Lost in the Stars
by Stevenspielbergwriter3
Summary: When faced with losing their careers, the Chipmunks and Chipettes agree to a wild publicity stunt funded by NASA. But things go horribly wrong as they are stranded in the depths of space with virtually no hope of ever making it back to Earth. In situations like this, they realize you must fight with every breath in your body just to survive.
1. Out of Options

**It's been too long. At least a couple years. But after all this time, the inspiration for this story came to me in a dream. If you like it, make sure you show it support in the comments. If you don't, any feedback is always welcome. This is for anyone to enjoy, but be warned: it's rated T for some dark material and action, as well as other adult themes.**

 **CGI verse. Not that this should come as a surprise to any of you, but I do NOT own the Chipmunks or any characters in the Chipmunks' franchise.**

 **Also FYI the first chapter is a little slow and heavy on the drama. Bear with me.**

 **Chapter 1: Out of Options**

" _In space, no one can hear you scream."_

 _Alvin's POV_

No one at the table said a word. Eleanor, Theodore, Jeanette, Simon, Brittany, myself, all looked at each other in shock and disbelief. Dave seemed somber but hardly surprised.

"Do any of you have any questions?" our agent, Mr. Helling asked.

I can't speak for anyone else in the dimly lit room, but I for one felt insulted. Here this guy was, who we had literally just hired, telling us our careers were basically over.

Again, no one said anything.

"Come on, guys," Dave piped up. "It's not like this is the end."

"Really?" Brittany retorted. "'Cause that's what it sounds like."

Mr. Helling sighed. "Look, attendance at your concerts has steadily dropped for a full two years. Madonna is out-selling you on iTunes and all other major music outlets. Singing chipmunks used to be hot and amazing, but the shock factor has died and the fact of the matter is that most people just don't enjoy your voices."

"Y-you're our agent," I said. "Isn't it your job to fix this?"

"It's my job to ensure that you guys remain as profitable as possible through the twilight of your careers," he said, looking at me frankly. "That means scaling things down a bit. Doing a lot of non-music related projects. Performing in smaller venues. Doing whatever it takes to squeeze every dollar out of you guys until you retire in a year, maybe two."

Anyone who knows me knows the phrase "scaling down" isn't in my vocabulary. I kept my mouth shut, but I knew this was bothering everybody. It was a slap in the face. No longer popular, on the last leg of our careers. Soon to be washed up and forgotten, at only the age of 18.

Without a word, I hopped off my chair onto the floor and started walking towards the door. The others quickly followed my lead.

Dave followed behind us. He opened the door for us while Mr. Helling still sat at the table, and stopped and turned as he was about to close the door behind us and said, "Let us know if you come up with anything."

Mr. Helling nodded as Dave shut the door softly.

 _Simon's POV_

The car ride home was mostly silent, minus Dave's 80's rock station.

"Soon we're gonna be as washed up as whoever sings this damn song," Alvin moaned.

" _Alvin_!" Dave scolded.

Alvin shut up. This was hard news for all of us to hear, although Dave probably already knew, but this was especially hard on Alvin. I think he always envisioned that his music life would never die, that he was infallible. Now he was dealing with his own mortality, and it wasn't pretty.

"I refuse to let myself slip like that," Alvin said. "Dave, we need a new manager. Mr. Helling has got to go."

"Mr. Helling isn't the problem here," Dave replied. "He's just trying to make the most out of a bad situation."

"Well ever since you hired him, all he's been focused on is down-sizing and it's because of that that our numbers have been slipping! He hasn't been getting us out there enough!"

"Alvin…" Brittany said softly as she put her hand on Alvin's shoulder.

He frowned as he looked into her eyes, then let his eyes sink back to the floor of the car.

Again, this was hurting all of us, but Alvin was taking it especially hard. And the rest of the car ride was pretty much silent. Minus the 80's rock.

 _Brittany's POV_

We all had that sick feeling in our stomachs still. And I didn't know how to make Alvin feel better. The second we got home he just went straight up to his room and didn't come out or make a sound.

I gave him a half hour or so before I went up and knocked on his door.

"Who is it?" his voice softly responded through the door.

I turned the doorknob and walked in. "Your favorite," I said flirtatiously.

"Oh…" he sighed, sitting on his bed facing his window. "Hey Brit."

I walked up to him and sat myself right next to him. "Y'know, Al', we're gonna be fine. We already have enough money that if we spend it wisely we can live comfortably for the rest of our lives."

He shook his head. "It's not about the money, Brit. It's about me. My pride, my legacy. My music. Music is my life, and I can't just let it go."

"We can get into other things," I tried. "It's not like we're just gonna be sitting around, bored."

"Then what will we do? Simon and Jeanette aren't sweating it, they can get into any field of work they want. And Theo and Ellie are already getting the green light for that cooking show they've always wanted. They'll still be able to follow their passions. Music _is_ my passion."

I smiled at him. "If you ask me, being a showoff is your passion." He rolled his eyes and grinned at me. I winked at him. "Plus I can think of one or two _other_ things that you seem to be pretty passionate about, and those won't go away with our record deals."

He hugged me, but then I heard him sigh. At the very least I had made him feel a little bit better.

Later that night, I noticed Alvin didn't feel as warm as he usually does. He was shivering, despite the fact that he had all the covers.

Dave hadn't cared about us sleeping together really since we had turned 18. Not that we had waited that long to try.

Neither of us really said a word that night. We just spooned and waited for our alarm clock to go off in the morning. Kind of like how we were all just waiting for our fame and fortunes to slowly dwindle down until there's nothing left.

 _Eleanor's POV_

It was already 7 am, and Alvin and Brittany still weren't up. Not that we were surprised. Pretty sure their motivation to work was long gone after yesterday.

We all sat around our kitchen table, including Dave, having already eaten breakfast.

"Should we just start working without them?" I asked.

Dave shook his head. "I actually have something very important to talk to all of you about," he said, "before we get started on anything."

As if on que, we heard Alvin's bedroom door upstairs open and close, with two pairs of tiny feet pit-patting their way down the stairs. They both entered the kitchen, side by side, looking groggy from lack of sleep.

"Morning, you two," Dave said, somewhat uncomfortable.

Alvin quickly noticed that we were waiting for them. "What's this all about Dave?" he said, yawning.

"Sit down," Dave said, grinning. "I have exciting news."

Alvin's ears perked as he took a seat.

Once we were all seated and looking at Dave in anticipation, he let his grin turn into an ear to ear smile. "Ok, so Mr. Helling got back to me last night."

Everyone looked like they had been let down already, especially Alvin.

"No no no, you're going to like this," Dave insisted. "NASA is planning a mission to Mars. But they don't just want astronauts to go. They're looking for celebrities to train and tag along. To boost publicity and interest in the program."

Everyone's eyes were wide with amazement.

"We have a meeting with the heads of the department today," Dave continued, "and it sounds like they wanna offer the positions to you six."

 _Jeanette's POV_

You could tell that everyone was nervous as Dave powered up his MacBook, while we all stood on the kitchen table in front of it. Mr. Helling, who had driven down to our house for the meeting, was the only one who truly seemed relaxed. "There's no need to be nervous," he assured us. "This isn't a job interview, per se. They're mostly going to be pitching the trip to you."

That made us feel a little better. Or, at least, it made me feel better. I had to admit that the prospect of visiting space was exciting for me, no less Mars. But I had my doubts, especially when it came to a government agency that was trying to use celebrities for a publicity stunt.

The MacBook had finally booted up, and just in time for 1pm. We all waited tensely, when suddenly the Facetime app opened with an incoming call. It was an unknown number from Austin, Texas. Dave hesitated, for some reason, before finally clicking the green button at the bottom of the screen.

The live video feed went full screen, with two men sitting in front of a plain white wall. The man on the left was wearing a nice suit and tie with thick brown hair combed to the side. The man on the right was mostly bald, with thick glasses and wearing a white lab coat.

The man in the suit looked at all of us and said, "Hey all, how are you guys doing."

We all looked at each other before Dave answered for us, "We're fantastic."

"Great! Great… well I should introduce myself. I'm Julian Mitchell, I'm NASA's Public Relations Department Head, and with me right now is Tom Butler, who's been assigned to direct the mission that you guys just might take part in. He'll be the head honcho behind the whole operation."

The bald man nodded at us and said in a thick southern accent, "pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure is all ours, sir," I said nervously.

"Charming," Tom said.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions," Julian said.

We all agreed.

"Well, let me give you the rundown," Julian began. "Essentially we're trying to land non-professional astronauts on the planet Mars for the first time in history. Thanks to recent revelations in rocket technology, among other things, we can not only equip you guys with the ability to travel all the way to Mars in about 1 week, but you'll have enough fuel to get you all the way back as well."

"So, how long total would we be gone?" Theodore asked.

"If all goes according to plan, exactly 44 days," Tom said abruptly.

"See, you're going to fly there for 7 days, set up base camp and live there for exactly 30 days, then take another 7 to pack up and return home," Julian clarified.

"I have some questions myself," I said.

"Ask away," Julian shrugged.

"First off, how is this any different from the fatal _Challenger_ mission in 1986 where those ordinary citizens died trying to go to the moon?"

Julian nodded. "That tragedy could have been affected if only someone had heeded many weather concerns at the launch," he said solemnly. "We've learned from that incident. Nothing even close to that awful has happened since then."

"Ok, I guess," I said, shrugging, "but I also still have my doubts that you guys could physically get us to and from Mars in 2 weeks. Seems impossible to me."

"Well see, that's where you guys come in," Julian said.

"You six offer the unique advantage in that you think and in most cases act just like human beings, but are considerably smaller," Tom clarified. "All of the equipment, including the shuttle, will be chipmunk-size. Perfect for you guys to live comfortably, and because it'll all be so much smaller than usual, we can send you with enough rocket fuel for the return trip."

"Wait wait wat!" Simon bursted. "We're not going to have _any_ experienced astronauts with us?"

"That's correct," Tom said.

"But see, you'd each go through an extensive training camp to prepare you and teach you the ins and outs of the mission," Julian said.

"So this means that either we do it, or there's no mission?" I asked.

"That's correct," Tom said. "The choice is all yours. We can compensate you with 750,000 dollars each, and we can fly you down here on our dime for your training. But please get back to us as soon as possible so I can make an announcement."

"Will do, you guys," Dave said, "Thank you."

Tom nodded, before the screen went dark with the words "Unknown Caller has ended the call".

 _Theodore's POV_

Dave sighed. We all had our doubts, but I think we all secretly wanted to do it.

"Well," Mr. Helling piped up, "you want a popularity boost, this is as close to a sure thing as you can get."

Dave nodded. "Look you guys, you're all 18. You're adults, which means this is your decision. Is there anyone that definitely doesn't want to do it?"

No one made a move.

"Ok, so is there anyone who definitely _does_ want to?"

Alvin raised his hand right away, followed closely by Simon and Jeanette.

Soon Eleanor raised her hand as well, and when she saw the worried look I gave her, she said, "this is our once-in a lifetime chance, Theo. To do something incredible."

Well, shit. If my baby's going, then it's my job to protect her. I raised my hand. That just left Brittany, who was clearly on the fence.

"Brit," Alvin said softly, "We just need this one little thing. This one thing and our careers are back on track. Don't you ever miss the days of being adored by the public?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She raised her hand.

Dave looked like he wanted to cry, both tears of joys and sadness. "I guess that settles it," he said. "Pack your things, we're going to Austin."

 **And that was Chapter 1. Again, I know it was slow. Things will pick up a lot next chapter. If you enjoyed it, please let me know that you want more. If you think there are ways it can be improved, please give me any constructive criticism you want.**

 **Also, if you can tell me where the quote at the top comes from you get mad props.**


	2. Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

**I want to thank everyone for the love they've shown this story, especially for a first chapter that even I can admit was slow and kind of boring. Your reward for making it this far is a damn good story which will start picking up.**

 **So as you read this chapter, once again I ask for patience.**

 **And as always, if you like the content make sure you let me know in a review or PM. Any feedback is welcome, whether it's positive or negative and just the knowledge that someone's reading is what keeps this story going.**

 **Chapter 2: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst**

 _Brittany's POV_

I stared out the window as the houses and buildings of Houston raced past underneath us. I sighed as it finally sunk in that we were about to land. It would be quite a while before I ever step foot in our nice, comfortable house in L.A. that I had always take for granted again.

On the other hand, I was giving up comfort for what I knew very well was the chance of a lifetime. I wasn't dumb. I knew what it meant to be the first Earthlings to ever visit Mars. And not only that, but to be able to come back.

I watched out the window once again as the runway was flying by right under our feet. A pit formed in my stomach out of anticipation as it seemed every inch that we got closer to the ground, it felt more and more likely that I was going to feel the sudden jolt of our touching down. I waited intensely as I clenched the armrests next to me. I held my breath until finally we hit the Earth. The jet bounced and rocked, and then vibrating as we slowly came screeching to a slower and slower pace.

"We're here," Dave said.

I thought about saying something sarcastic, but I decided to save it.

It wasn't long before the jet had docked and the captain could be heard over the loudspeakers (interrupting my playlist), "ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you for flying with us today. It is currently 98 degrees and sunny in Houston, Texas with slight humidity. If you need assistance exiting the aircraft, then any of our stewards or stewardesses would gladly help you. If not we hope that you enjoy your stay here and that you come see us again sometime soon."

I rolled my eyes. _Neither of those are very likely._

As we exited through the gate, there was a man waiting inside the airport with a sign that said, "Chipmunks & Chipettes".

We walked up to him and he knew we were who he was waiting for right away. He politely escorted us to his limousine, closed the doors behind us, loaded our baggage, and drove off.

None of us were astounded by the luxury of the limo, as we were used to that kind of treatment. Or at least, we used to be. To be very honest, despite all of the car's commodities, the best part was the Air Conditioning. It was awful hot out.

It was another hour or so before we reached it: NASA Training HQ. It was a large building in the middle of nowhere, mostly white, with the NASA logo spray painted on one windowless side. That was one thing I forgot to mention: there were basically no windows. And it was in the middle of a hot, barren desert. I gritted my teeth knowing that it only went downhill from here.

The limo driver wasted no time after handing us our bags before speeding away and leaving us.

We trudged towards what looked like the main entryway. I say that because it looked like the only entryway. It was a large, thick metal door with a security camera hovering above it. To the side was a red light and a green light. The red light was lit up.

Dave stepped up to the door and looked up at the camera which stayed fixated on us. Suddenly, the red light went dim and the green light buzzed on. Dave looked back at us and shrugged, then turned back around and pushed the door open. We all followed him inside, as he shut the door behind us.

Inside was a well lit greeting room, with a front desk and everything. There was a man sitting there who looked up and smiled at us. "Welcome!" he said. "They've been waiting for you in the meeting room. Come with me, I'll escort you there."

We obliged, following him up a short flight of stairs, around a corner, down a hall, three doors down to our right.

"This is the meeting room," he said. "Go ahead in. If there's anything you guys need let me know."

"Water?" I asked.

"I've been instructed not to let you guys drink water just yet," he replied, still smiling at me.

I gulped down my thirst and nodded.

With that he nodded at us and walked off.

Dave opened the door for us and waited for us to hop in before walking in behind us and closing it. Inside the room was a nice-looking round wooden table. On the other end of the room sat Tom, the bald man from the video chat. Next to him was a short but stocky brunette woman with a hardened face and her hair in a pony tail. She wore a sleeveless gray t-shirt and sweatpants.

"Come in!" Tom said to us. "Sit down, please."

We all did as he asked.

"Allow me to introduce Captain Raegan Megyesy."

"Call me Captain Megs, to save time," she cut in. Pretty sure her voice was deeper than Dave's.

"Fair enough," Tom said. "Anyway, she'll be in charge of your training and will be completely responsible for making sure you six are ready for everything you can and will encounter on your journey. With my supervision, of course."

Captain Megs nodded.

"How long will this training last?" I asked.

She smirked at me. "Until I say you're ready," she responded.

"We're very excited to be working with you little guys," Tom said. "Dave, you'll be able to watch their progress in training at most designated time, but I'm afraid you won't be able to have direct contact with them until their training is complete. If you'd like to say so long to them that'd be great, then I'll show you to where you'll be staying."

Dave nodded then looked at us. We all quickly ran in for a giant group hug. "I love you guys," Dave said to us. "I'm so proud of you. I know you guys will do great."

We broke up the hug as Dave stood up. Tom walked over to him and put his hand on Dave's shoulder, before leading him out the door. But just before he shut it, Dave called, "just remember, I'll be watching you guys!" And then the door shut.

And so we were left in the room with Captain Megs. She smiled down at us, all standing on the table. "Alright look you guys," she said in a less than feminine voice, "you're in for some pretty intense training."

I caught Theo and Ellie giving each other worried glances.

"And that doesn't just mean physically, either," Megs continued, "although I love me some good PT. My job is also to push you to the limit mentally and psychologically. Because I've been in the shit. I've been up there, in space. Even if there were ever a mission where absolutely nothing went wrong, which will never happen, you need to be on your guard 24/7 and always need to be able to make smart decisions. My training will be actively saving your life down the road, while you realize it or not."

I liked something about this woman. She got to the point. She didn't dick around like those other two guys.

"The main thing to keep in mind," she continued, "is that no matter what I put you through, we know for a scientific fact that you can do it if you push yourself. The key will be being mentally tough. Any questions?"

No one said a word.

She smirked again. "Then follow me."

The first place she led us was down the stairs, but still well past the greeting desk. We came to A giant glass window, through which we could see inside a large white room. Inside the room was a chipmunk-sized shuttle simulator, a mud pit, some sort of a rope course, and a few other areas obviously meant for training.

"This is where you'll be spending most of your days for a while," Megs said. "We'll be conducting the vast majority of our training exercises in there."

We moved on to a room on the other side of the floor. It looked to have a sliding door with the letters "FES" imprinted on it and a small window up at the top that none of us except for Megs could see through. "This is the Flight Elements Simulator," Megs said. "Anything we do in there won't be pleasant, but it'll make you mentally tougher."

Our last stop was on the very top floor, in what seemed like the far corner of the building. "This will be the room in which you will sleep," Megs told us as she opened the door.

We all walked into the dark room, with small flashing colored lights all over the place. Megs flipped a switch which illuminated the whole place instantly. There were six beds, perfectly sized for chipmunks, sitting across from each other. Other than that, there seemed to be nothing in the room besides random flashing lights all over the place.

"The room will be kept at 60 degrees Fahrenheit at all times, including when you sleep," the Captain said as she watched us look around the room while rubbing our arms for warmth.

"I have a question," I said, raising my hand.

"The answer is no," she said smiling. "These flashing lights will never be stopped either. These are all elements to get used to while you're sleeping. Which reminds me…" she trailed off as she walked towards one of the beds, which we just now realized had seatbelts on them in the shape of an X. "It's very important that each of you guys strap yourselves in," she continued. "Every night. In your own bed." She emphasized that last part, glaring at us. "These are the conditions you'll be facing on your trip."

It was only 9 pm, but we were already exhausted. Not from training or anything, because that didn't start until tomorrow. We were just wary.

We all changed into our specialized space pj's, despite how cold our room was, and buckled ourselves in.

Just as I was about ready to fall asleep, I heard Alvin say to us, "we got his guys. Never look back."

I lifted my head, trying to get a glimpse of him, but I couldn't raise my head enough because of my constraints. I sighed, laid back down, and fell asleep, shuddering from the cold.

Just when I finally felt comfortable in my sleep, the whole room came violently alive with sirens, the main lights flashing on and off, and an electronic voice repeating the phrase, "ALERT! URGENT ATTENTION NEEDED! ALERT!"

It all happened so fast. Even the bed was shaking. In a panicked state, I scratched at my seat belt until I found the release button. I freed myself and hopped off the bed, the noise and flashes still going. I covered my ears and looked around. It looked like Alvin had fallen off his bed and onto his back, having been shaken off by the vibrating beds. Probably didn't buckle up last night.

Through the flashing lights I could see everyone else safely hop off their beds while Alvin picked himself up painfully. I couldn't help but smirk at his being outsmarted. I walked myself over to where Simon and Jean were standing, all of us still with our ears covered.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" Jeanette screamed so that Simon at the very least could hear her.

"WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled.

We all scrambled over to the lone door that was our way out. We pushed and pounded on that door as hard as we could, desperate to get out of this loud room, to no avail. I looked around the room. There had to be a way to open this door. I suddenly noticed a small button all the way at the other end of the room.

Without hesitation, I scrambled across the room with the others watching me curiously. As soon as I had reached the button I slammed my fist into it. I turned and looked and sure enough, although the noise and flashing lights didn't stop, the door slid open. The other five wasted no time in sprinting out the room, with the exception of Alvin who kept his head inside to watch and make sure I got out. I began running towards him but without warning, the door slowly started sliding back closed. I picked up the pace, sprinting as fast as I could. The door was almost closed. As soon as I was close enough I dove forward, coming to a skid and painful stop just before the sliding door had completely closed.

Suddenly, the noise stopped and our bedroom seemed still. But before we could let the ringing leave our ears, a man's voice spoke quietly through the loudspeakers: "Chipmunks and Chipettes, Captain Megyesy is expecting you at the FES as soon as possible, please."

We obeyed these directions and made our way down the stairs.

"That was fucked up," Alvin said. "There was no need to wake us up like that."

Simon rolled his eyes. "You're just salty, Alvin."

"Why would I be salty, _Simon_?"

"Because you disobeyed orders and didn't buckle up last night, so you fell on your ass. That's why," Simon retorted.

"That could have happened to anyone," Alvin insisted. "What if I had badly injured myself?"

Simon pretended to think about this for a second. "Well, they probably assumed that when Captain Megs told you to strap yourself to your bed, that you'd listen."

"Well their first mistake was to assume I'd listen to _anything_ ," Alvin chuckled.

"Well," Simon said, rolling his eyes again, "looks to me like it's more your problem than theirs."

Before the arguing could go further, we arrived at the room that had FES printed on the doorway.

"Morning, cadets!" We all jumped and turned around at the sound of Megs's voice behind us.

"Morning!" Theodore said politely.

"How'd you guys like your wake up call?" she asked, chuckling.

"That was your idea?" Alvin asked, looking almost betrayed.

"Oh, hell no." She laughed. "That's how this facility has woken up its trainees since before I was going through the same program as you guys."

"Is that going to be how we wake up _every morning_?" I exclaimed.

"Better believe it," she replied. "It teaches you to be calm in the face of emergency. It's another thing you get used to, trust me."

I groaned, but she ignored me.

"I have a couple important things to say to you guys before we get started. First things first, I want to say that you Chipettes are just as capable of doing anything on this mission as your boyfriends. And to prove it, you're going to split up into two teams."

We all looked up at her with wide eyes. We hadn't really felt like competitors in forever. She smirked at us.

"It's simple: 'Munks vs. 'Ettes. You see this?" She dug a weird large bronze coin out from her pocket and held it up so we could see it. "This is a shower token. Worth ten minutes in a hot shower. Trust me when I say this thing is going to feel very valuable after today, as well as every other day of training after that. The catch is that every exercise we do will be a competition, and the winners will be awarded with a shower token each. Any questions?"

The Chipmunks and Chipettes all looked at each other. For the first time in a long time, we weren't completely on the same team.

"Good," Megs said. "This brings me to your first training exercise." She walked over to the FES and pressed a button to open the door. "Go ahead in and take a seat, side by side with your team."

We walked inside and I thought that it looked like the inside of a roller coaster simulator. The back of the room had an obviously fake image of space through a "window". Then there were six chipmunk-sized seats, 3 on each side. We did as Megs told us to, sitting girls on one side and guys on the other. We each buckled up without even being told to.

"Here's the deal," Megs said from the doorway. "It's going to get really cold in here. Not cold enough to cause any damage to you guys or anything, but you'll be very uncomfortable I promise you. Above each of you is a button. Press that button, and it's all over. But the first person to push that button loses a shower token for their whole team. Good luck." And with that she closed the door, and there was only us, buckled to our seats.

I didn't like the idea behind this challenge at all, and as I looked around me, I could tell that everyone else expected me to be the first one to push that button.

I felt the temperature in the room drop, from room temperature to cool, from cool to chilly. The whole meanwhile the fake window at the far end of the room was becoming "cracked" and "icy", adding to the effect.

 _Not today_ , I told myself.

The temperature continued to drop until it felt like I was outside, butt naked in the snow.

Alvin could probably sense the discomfort on my face, and was definitely eager to end this, so he said, "gee, this really sucks, doesn't it Brit?" He had that stupid sly grin on his face that I had secretly fallen in love with years ago.

It was so cold now that we could see each others' breath. "Nah," I replied. "I could go all day." Unfortunately the uncontrollable shuddering kicked in right then.

Alvin smirked knowing he had done his job.

Jeanette leaned over to me and said, "look, Megs specifically said that we could stay in here as long as we want and not get hurt. We just have to ignore the pain."

I nodded but didn't speak to conserve body heat.

"This is pointless," Alvin piped up again, steam spewing from his mouth as he talked. "Everyone knows men have a higher pain tolerance than women."

I glared at him. "Call me when you've given birth, hun."

"Call me when _you've_ given birth, _hun_ ," he snickered.

Eleanor chuckled. "Pretty sure you'd wanna know about a baby a littler earlier than that, Alvie."

The four of them laughed. Alvin chuckled nervously. I stared at the floor awkwardly.

The pain of my toes going numb was starting to get into my head. I was able to rub my fingers against the seat belts to save a little bit of warmth, but my feet had nowhere to go. And the worst was knowing that every time I took a breath, my body heat was flying away. But I wasn't going to quit. It wasn't even about the shower tokens anymore. I just had to beat Alvin.

"G-guyss-s…" Eleanor said, shuddering violently, "I-i-i don-don't think I c-cann go mmmu-much lo-onger."

"Yeah, you right," Alvin said, also shaking a little bit. "That oozy, painful feeling in your toes really bites, doesn't it?"

"Alvin," I snarled, "Sh-shut thefuck… u-up."

He let out what was as close to his devious laugh as could be through the hiccups and shudders.

Eleanor started to sniffle. "I have to d-... ta do iit." She slowly started raising her hand towards the giant, friendly-looking yellow button above her head.

Suddenly, a button was pressed, but it wasn't Eleanor's. It was Theodore's. An electronic woman's voice said, "Exercise completed", as the door to the room was raised and the temperature slowly began rising again.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we all unbuckled ourselves and slid to the floor.

"Theodore!" Alvin exclaimed. "Why the hell would you do that? We were about to win!"

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Alvin slapped his forehead. "Those were easy shower tokens!"

"Salty, Alvin?" I said grinning slyly at him.

He turned around to face me. "I mean, you lowkey had to cheat to win. But it's cool," he said shrugging.

I stopped dead in my tracks. "Cheat?"

"Mhm. You had to pay Theodore to be a traitor. But it's no big deal. Now that I know Theo's on your side, I can put the team on my back and get the win."

We had no more time before we were summoned to the main training room.

And so we competed, non stop, every day. For 27 straight days, we would wake up to that awful ruckus, but every time we would be more and more ready for it and dealt with it more and more smoothly. For 27 straight days, we raced through obstacle courses, struggled in simulators, memorized key combos to solve problems. We got dirty, sweaty, frustrated, but always persevered and enjoyed every last second of whatever shower tokens we earned.

Captain Megs was right. Every day, we became tougher, smarter, quicker. Our pain tolerance went up drastically, as she often pointed out, based on the FES competition that we did every 3 days.

Simon and Jeanette were our head pilots. The rest of us were each given our small assignments. We finally felt ready for this mission. The only problem is, Megs didn't. At least, not yet.

 **Well, I did NOT mean to make this chapter this long. I really appreciate you if you made it this far. I hope you can appreciate what I'm setting up here in terms of build up.**

 **This story will continue to get more and more exciting, just give it time.**

 **Once again, if you like the content, or just wanna give any sort of feedback, make SURE to hit that review or PM button and let me know exactly what you think. You guys are what keeps this story going. And just knowing that one person is interested is good enough for me (although the more the merrier XD).**

 **You'll be catching the next chapter in another couple of days.**


	3. Oh Captain, My Captain!

**Sorry this took so long to update. I was facing some writers block for a bit there. This chapter should begin to pick it up a bit.**

 **Also, I have some things to say based off of your reviews about this story.**

 **The chipmunks will swear from time to time. It shouldn't get too excessive, but especially as things get more and more intense, they'll react similar to how kids their age would. That doesn't make them OC, even though it's not necessarily how they act in the cartoons.**

 **The munks/ettes pretty much have open relationships with each other.**

 **POV will change pretty much each chapter, as well as in the middle of some chapters**

 **No this is not a rated M story and I will do my best to make sure that it stays that way. If you ever think I exceed the T rating please let me know.**

 **With all that said, I'm pleased to offer up Chapter 3.**

 **Chapter 3: Oh Captain, My Captain**

 _Simon's POV_

It was the same routine, every day, for 42 days. 42. Days. And I'd be lying if I said the worst part wasn't the wakeup call we got every morning. It was just like that first day. The alarm would go off, and we would need to push a button to open the door and get out of our rooms. The only catch was, each day the button was in a different location. This morning was no different than any of the others.

We met Megs as quickly as possible down in front of the pain tolerance testing room, as it was that day of the week again. Our trainer was waiting patiently for us.

"You guys have been getting faster," she said smirking down at us. "I'm impressed, commander Simon."

"Thank you," I replied, noticing the jealous look on Jeanette's face. Technically speaking, it had not yet been decided which between the two of us would be the head pilot of the mission. And although she claimed that it did not matter to her, I knew she was salty that it seemed to be going more my way.

"Are you guys ready to begin your weekly pain tolerance test?" Megs asked us.

"Yes ma'am," Jeanette said.

"Right, well, I'm going to throw something new at you guys today. That's all I'm gonna say. Get in there and make me proud."

Confused, we all obeyed. Exactly the same procedure as the first time, as well as every other time we took this test. The Chipmunks and Chipettes were buckled in on opposite sides of the room. The only door shut and sealed behind us. The temperature started to drop.

Over the past six weeks, we had all done a good job of improving our times. We had figured out a few tricks, including keeping our eyes shut and breathing as little as possible so as to conserve body heat. Obviously this meant only talking if it was absolutely important. Because any heat that escaped your body was undoubtedly gone from the room very quickly.

And we were on a roll today. It was still a competition between the Chipmunks and Chipettes, winner gets shower tokens. But no one had talked. No one took any breaths that seemed too deep. We all definitely felt in our hearts that we had beaten our best time yet. And although we physically felt a numbing pain from the freezing cold, we mentally felt able to go on forever.

Then the twist came.

Megs' voice piped up over the loudspeaker, " _here's where it get's interesting._ " Which, although no one said anything, had us all petrified. " _I want to remind you all that no matter how you feel in there, it's nothing that will cause you permanent harm._ "

Suddenly, I felt the temperature begin to go back up and quickly. It was only a few seconds before we were back up to room temperature, which to our bodies felt like we were baking under a noon sun in the summer. And that was just the beginning. As very quickly it went from room temperature to mid-90's. And it was still climbing. And we realized our strategies would have to change soon.

The shock of the sudden switch from freezing to hot had our bodies tingling. We felt like we were being suffocated in the heat, especially as it rolled up to what must have been 110 degrees. Our breaths became long and rapid.

The whole room began to glow orange, faintly at first, then slowly becoming more and more bright. Flames began to burst on the screen that was simulating the room's "window". The whole room began to shake violently as the room continued climbing in temperature. It honestly felt like being baked in an oven… during an earthquake.

"I'm gonna pull the plug!" Theodore exclaimed desperately.

Just as I was about to encourage him to keep going, Jeanette interrupted me: "No, Theo!"

Everyone looked at her in shock. She was on the cusp of winning shower tokens. Brittany, especially, looked pissed.

"We can get through this. Together. They can't keep us in here forever!"

We were all sweating puddles by then. But Theodore gulped down his discomfort and pain and did not press the button, as did we all.

Suddenly, only a few moments later, the machine powering the heaters was turned off. The room quickly cooled back down to room temperature.

Alvin groaned. "Ok, who pressed the button?"

No one owned up to ending the drill.

The door to the room slid open, allowing Megs to step inside. "I was the one who ended the test," she said gruffly.

We all looked at her, confused, as we unbuckled ourselves and hopped down to the floor.

"I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that all six of you have been granted double shower tokens," Megs continued to our delight. "AND the rest of the day off of training. Enjoy yourselves. I'll speak with you again tonight."

We all jumped and celebrated, hugging each other. It was a great sense of victory. Megs nodded and walked off, leaving us to do whatever we wanted.

 _Alvin's POV_

Theo and Ellie were busy applying water to dehydrated food that had made up our diet over the last six weeks. It was disgusting as hell, but I had gotten used to it. Theo and Ellie did their best to make it taste good and I always felt like I had to pretend they succeeded.

Anyway, Jeanette and Simon were kind of in their own world, on the other side of our bedroom, making small talk. Brittany was sitting by herself. I half-confidently walked up to her and sat next to her. She forced a smile at me. I smiled back.

"So… how you planning on using those shower tokens?" I asked slyly.

"Probably in the shower, dumb ass," she giggled at me, rolling her eyes.

"Not what I meant," I responded.

She looked straight into my eyes for the first time. "What do you mean?"

"I dunno," I said, pretending to think about it. "I was thinking maybe we could pool our tokens… later tonight?"

She grinned at me. "Alvin Seville. Isn't that against the rules? That's why there's a girls locker room and boys locker room."

I looked at her with wide eyes in fake shock. "You clearly forget who you're talking to."

"Food's almost ready!" Eleanor called to all of us.

"Before we eat," Simon interjected, "I suggest we all shower. Use up those double shower tokens that Megs generously provided for us."

I smiled at Brittany and whispered in her ear, "Only use half of them."

 _Brittany's POV_

The guys were in one shower room. The ladies were in the other. It was just like any day, where we were all about to cash in the tokens that we had during the day, excited as we were about to have our only opportunity of the day to gossip about the other three. We each had four shower tokens, each good for five minutes. As Jean and Ellie started inserting all four of their tokens into the slots by their showers, I made the split-second decision to only use two of mine. I made sure to act like I had used all four while sneaking the other two inside of my towel.

Each of our showers turned on to our great satisfaction.

"So why do you guys think Megs ended the test today?" Eleanor said.

"I don't know," Jeanette said, shrugging. "She clearly wasn't mad at us, cause she gave us the day off. I guess we'll find out later tonight."

Eleanor nodded.

"I bet we passed the test," I said. "I think she thinks we're ready."

"For the mission?" Eleanor gasped.

I smirked. "I feel ready, I'll tell you that much."

"Well," Eleanor continued, "if training's over, who do you think will get the job of Head Pilot? Jean or Simon?"

Jeanette blushed. "I-I really don't care. Either one of us would do the job well."

"Oh come ON Jeannie," Eleanor insisted. "I love Simon as much as the next person, but everyone knows you'd be way more qualified to pilot this thing."

Jeanette shrugged. "The guys are probably saying the same thing about him. Besides, there's way too much pressure being the number one and I'm not sure I won't let it get to me."

We decided to change the subject, and mostly just talked about the food Ellie and Theo had made, and whether or not it was gonna be good.

After what I guess was about ten minutes, my shower shut off.

"That was not twenty minutes," Jeanette scowled, looking at my shower head.

I shrugged. "Oh well." I grabbed my towel, careful not to drop my two remaining tokens, and began drying off.

"You should complain to Megs," Ellie said.

"Nah," I said. "It's all good. I'll just start getting ready for dinner. See you guys later."

 _Jeanette's POV_

Megs had called us all down to the conference room where we had first met, and that was where we all sat. At first she looked at all of us with her usual stirn grimace, but once she knew we were all paying attention her face loosened up into a smile.

"My work with you guys is done," she said. "Today you six proved to me that you are ready for deep space travel. I've already made my recommendation to Tom, the head of the mission, and he agrees totally. There's very little more I can help you with."

We all held eachothers' hands in congratulations. We were going to be the first Earthlings to visit Mars.

"Jeanette," Megs continued, "you showed me tremendous leadership and perseverance today when you encouraged Theodore to push himself despite the fact that it could have cost your team. It's that kind of selflessness and compassion for each other that I was really looking for. On top of being physically ready, you guys know how to be there for each other now, no matter what."

"Thank you ma'am. With all due respect, what does this mean for who will be Head Pilot?" I didn't want anyone to catch on that I actually cared.

She nodded, solemnly. "We have decided to go with Simon for that position. His team won the most drills, and we believe he'll do a great job."

I was crushed.

"In fact," she continued, pulling a folder out and tossing it out onto the middle of the table, "I have official positions set here for each of you. All six of you have been training for these positions, but these are the official job descriptions."

 **Simon**

 _Head Pilot_

Main job is to pilot ship as it launches and is under way. Is responsible for all major decisions made during mission. Safety of crew is priority number 1. Success of mission is priority number 2. Can use any means necessary to ensure that either of these priorities or met.

 **Jeanette**

 _Head Engineer_

Is responsible for monitoring and maintaining stability and function of all mechanical parts on the ship, as well as all other tools and devices that the crew will use. Will also take over as 1st in command of mission if the Head Pilot is ever unable to continue his duties, according to protocol.

 **Alvin**

 _Field Manager_

Versatile crew member who should be at the forefront of any expedition or job that would assist the mission. This includes but is not limited to repair jobs, driving rovers, and collecting material to be studied.

 **Brittany**

 _Head of Communication and Navigation_

Two main duties include tracking and reporting any necessary information regarding the whereabouts of the ship or any other equipment, as long as it is possible, as well as monitoring all signals and communications sent to and from the ship's computer.

 **Theodore**

 _Nutrition and Health Monitor_

Main duties are to monitor calorie intake by each crew member, insure food is rationed properly, and also to see to it that all living conditions for the crew members are as optimal as possible. Is also the main assistant to the Medical Officer.

 **Eleanor**

 _Medical Officer_

Must make decisions on health and conditions of any and all crew members, including head pilot. This includes mental and physical health. Has the power to quarantine anything as well as other crew members. May also need to help heal wounds in some cases.

I wanted to scream sexism, or something. But that wouldn't have made an effect as Megs was indeed a woman. On top of that, I was still trying to keep of the perception of not caring. So I politely gave Simon a warm hug of congratulations.

"None of these assignments should come as a surprise to any of you," Megs said. "You each have been training for these jobs for six straight weeks. With that, I dismiss you. You'll be meeting here with Mr. Julian Mitchell. I bid you all farewell, and good luck."

With that, she stood and saluted us as we began to walk one by one out the door. I was the last one out.

"Jeanette, a word with you?" Megs called, stopping me dead in my tracks.

I turned around slowly to face her. She motioned for me to come closer. Nervously, I obeyed.

"I understand you feel shafted by getting second in command," she said.

"Oh… no I understand," I tried.

"Save it," she retorted. "I've been in your position. But if you had not expressed fear to your teammates about taking on the position…"

"When did I do that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Today, for example, in the locker room-"

"You were listening to that?" I interrupted in shock.

"We've bugged every single room in this building. Including both locker rooms." She spoke as if this was standard procedure.

I felt embarrassed.

"Look," she said, "I just wanted to remind you that your title may say 'second in command', but this is outer space we're talking about. Sooner or later you'll get your chance to shine as a leader, God forbid something happens to Simon."

I nodded and walked away without saying another word.

 _Brittany's POV_

I had kept up my end of the bargain, and I soon found out that Alvin had too. I walked into the girls' shower room at 10:04 pm, past our curfew. He was there waiting for me, just out in the open, looking at me with that stupid sly grin of his that secretly always gave me the feels.

"What if someone else had come in, besides me?" I whispered.

He shrugged. "Coulda told them I made the gender swap."

I looked him up and down, grinning. "There's an easy way to find out if you're lying," I said, winking at him.

He held up his two remaining shower tokens and fit both of them into the slots. Getting closer to him, I did the same. Without speaking, we both slid out of our clothes and threw them across the room, staring at each other as if we were having a staring contest. Without breaking his concentration, Alvin pressed the button as hot water began drenching both of us.

 **There's chapter 3! If you liked it, make sure you show it love with a review and to follow me for more content! Didn't like it/had some issues with it? Don't be shy and find a way to let me know. All constructive criticism is welcome.**

 **Also let me know what you think is going to happen in the story. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.**

 **Chapter 4 will be dropping ASAP.**


	4. Takeoff

**To everyone who has read this far, hopefully that means you like the story. You did a great job giving me feedback on my last chapter, which really motivated me to get this to you guys as quickly as possible.**

 **I want to thank everyone who gave me suggestions, thank you. I don't pre-determine what happens in my stories so if your idea flows well and makes sense I might just use it.**

 **Chapter 4: Takeoff**

 _Eleanor's POV_

There was no alarm the next morning. We each rolled out of bed, one at a time, peacefully, at least two hours past our normal time.

And seeing as though we were in no hurry to be anywhere, I decided to whip us up some breakfast. I began gathering what was left of our supply of dehydrated foods and began trying to plan something that would work. Theo offered to help right away, of course.

"What do you think?" I asked him. "If we rehydrate the peppers, onions, and ham we could use the powdered eggs to make an omelet?"

He thought about it for a second. "But we won't have cheese," he said. "We should use those ingredients but we could just make like a breakfast stir fry with them. Ya feel?"

I giggled. "Genius," I said, winking at him.

We got to work right away. He began the process of rehydration, I started the eggs. He chopped the ham, I chopped the veggies. We took turns sauteing and stirring. The end product was a rough hodgepodge of a stir fry by our standards, but the whole gang seemed to love it and that's what really matters.

We all paraded down towards the meeting room, where NASA's head of public affairs, Julian Mitchell, was standing waiting for us outside the door. "I trust you enjoyed your breakfast," he said, checking his watch. "I figured you would appreciate being allowed to sleep in."

"Thank you, sir," Jeanette said.

"What's on the agenda for today?" Simon asked.

"Today you will be officially introduced to the actual equipment you'll be using on your mission," Julian told us. "After that, you'll probably spend a while prepping for the live interview you're scheduled for in a week."

"Did you say, 'live interview'?" Alvin said, smirking.

"Yes, Alvin. And you will be prepped on what to say. To the word. Which means no improvising. You're gonna be taught how to walk the line."

"Please. If you've ever seen me speak live, you'd know you have nothing to worry about," Alvin insisted.

"Actually I have my job to worry about. NASA's got nothing if it doesn't have credibility. Now are you done being an ass?"

Alvin shut up.

"Good," Julian sighed. "Follow me to the testing lab."

 _Alvin's POV_

Who did this Julian guy think he was? I've been through hell the last six weeks, and I was just trying to lighten the mood. I'd have liked to see this fool go through half of what I went through. He's in charge of protecting NASA's image? No wonder they came crawling to us for help.

He led us all the way down another flight of stairs to what I guess was like the basement of the building. At the bottom of the staircase was a thick metal door, which Julian opened with a six digit code.

On the other side was a giant room, where sparks were flying everywhere as the finishing touches were being put on the machinery that we would use on Mars. There was also that bald guy, Tom, waiting for us. He was chatting with a big, grunty man with thick facial hair and a hard hat on, so we walked over to meet him.

As soon as the guy in the hard hat walked off, he noticed us and said, "Oh! You're finally here!"

"These are some pretty sweet-looking toys," I snickered.

"Yes, well I am sure you're anxious for a tour," Tom said as enthusiastically as possible. "Let's begin."

It was easy to get hypnotized looking around at the machinery being built, even though it was only chipmunk-sized. But what really caught my eye was the Rover. It looked easily big enough to fit all of us, with eight giant wheels that looked able to climb over anything. The whole thing just looked tough, including the thick glass dome on the front end that allowed the driver to navigate.

Without caring about what the rest of the group was doing, I ran over to where the were testing it on a treadmill made of a bumpy terrain of red rocks and sand.

"Ah yes," Tom said, following behind me. "This is the new MR-17, a Mars rover designed specifically for this mission. Alvin, you've taken more than your fair share of goes in the rover simulator. Your skills have really shown in driving it."

"Can I get inside it?" I asked.

He hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't see why not."

The inside of the rover was insanely high tech. It had all of the controls and displays that they had tested me with on simulators. I strapped myself in and pictured myself actually on the red planet. I noticed there were cameras all over the place; one inside the cockpit looking down at me, the cargo bay, two acting as rear view mirrors, one facing the front.

"What's with all of the cameras?" I spoke into the headset.

"As much of the mission as possible will be recorded and transmitted back to NASA HQ," Tom explained.

 _Well,_ I thought, _it's a good thing Brittany and I got our special night out of the way, before the cameras were watching._

 _Brittany's POV_

"So, Brittany, help me understand how you fit into this mission?" Fox News' Tucker Carlson's question made me blink. He hadn't asked either of the other five that question, all of whom were sitting with me on the couch across from Carlson's desk.

"Well… what exactly do you mean?" I asked, squinting at him.

"As in, erm… how are you going to contribute?"

I shrugged. "Well, I'll mostly be manning the radar and the cameras to… help everything go smoothly. I guess that's a good way to put it."

Tucker nodded. "I see. I guess the overarching question on everyone's mind in America is… why a group of singing chipmunks?"

"Well…" Simon began to try to answer but he trailed off.

"I mean don't get me wrong you guys are very talented at what you do. But you never really struck me as astronauts. I just don't see why NASA would put all of its eggs in the baskets of six chipmunks who have no flight or space experience, for the single most important mission in this planet's history. Can you at least speculate on that? Any of you?"

"It's all economics," Jeanette said. "Not only did making the mission chipmunk-sized reduce the cost of the mission by 90%, but it also made it so that we could be sent with enough fuel to get us there AND back. It would have been impossible without us."

"Right well that makes sense, but all this seems kind of rushed, doesn't it? I mean the public only recently found out like a month ago and now NASA's already announced that they're basically ready for takeoff. Does that not concern you at all?"

"There's no reason to be concerned," Simon insisted. "All six of us have been through rigorous training the last month and a half. We're ready."

 _Theodore's POV_

We had all known this moment would come. It was the day of the launch, Houston was buzzing with excitement. And here we were, us six chipmunks, in the prepping room, alone with our father for possibly the last time.

No one said anything for at least three seconds. Dave stared down at us with tears swelling up in his eyes. He took a deep breath and said, "I'm just so proud of you guys."

We all ran in and embraced him in a seven-way group hug.

"You guys have accomplished way more than any person in history," Dave continued. "And you're only eighteen year old chipmunks. I'm very proud to call you family."

We still hadn't broken the hug. "Dave, every last one of us will return home safely," Simon said, also holding back tears. "I swear to you."

Dave chuckled through his sniffling. "I know, Simon. These things always work out in the end. You guys always end up ok, no matter what."

Alvin smiled warmly. "I'll try not to be so much of a dumbass this time, Dave."

"So just a little bit?" Dave joked.

Everyone forced an uncomfortable laugh, almost as if we were trying to convince ourselves that this was just a short farewell. Even though, if everything went totally right during this mission, it'd be at least 44 days until we saw Dave again. And that was if nothing went wrong.

As everyone slowly began breaking away from Dave, I was the last one still squeezing him tight. This was the man who had taken my brothers and I in when we had nothing. He had helped us develop our talents into a phenomenon. He had watched us as people grew to love us, but he helped make sure fame never changed us. He had comforted me when I had nightmares. He had helped us grow into young adults. He had cared for us.

"I'll be here for you when you get back," Dave whispered in my ear.

I nodded, wiping my tears into his shoulder, and hopped down and joined the others.

Dave glanced at the clock, which read 7 am. The launch was at 10. "It's time for you guys to start getting ready." He turned, opened the door, and stepped out. But before he closed it behind him he looked back at us and said, "and don't forget, I'll be watching you guys."

And that was where he left it. He closed the door, and now it truly felt like we were on our own.

A few moments later we were joined by scientists and doctors. I can't talk for anyone else in the room, but I still felt lonely.

 _Alvin's POV_

They started the long process of hooking up heart rate monitors to our bodies and helping us into the many layers of the space suits we had to wear during launch. It was uncomfortable, and it didn't take long after I had slid into the final outer layer that I started to get hot and sweaty. I looked at the clock and we still had an hour till lift off.

Suddenly, the phone in the room began to ring. One of the nurses walked over and picked it up. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Right now? Mhm? Ok thank you. I'll let him know." She put down the phone. "Alvin, they want you in the Medical room ASAP."

"Now?" I looked at her with wide eyes. "They want me to walk all the way up there in this suit?"

"Apparently." The woman didn't look up from the checklist she was working on or even make an attempt to care about my dilemma.

I rolled my eyes. But as I walked out the door, in my three layers of space suit, I turned and gave one last glance at Brittany. She smiled at me in a way that made my heart skip a beat.

Halfway through the walk to the Medical office was quick but very beautiful stop. It was a bridge, leading across to a different wing of the launch headquarters. And as I walked it I was stopped dead in my tracks by the view to my left. The ship, called the _Caesar_ , stood tall amongst the support poles mounted to it. Even though it was "chipmunk-sized" it was still at least the size of two big freighter trucks combined. There was a large crowd of people that had gathered miles away from the ship just to watch the takeoff. Even from where I was standing I could hear the crowd rumble through the wind that was blowing in my face.

"Mr. Seville." I jumped as Captain Megs' voice spoke to me from behind.

"Megs!" I exclaimed. Where did she even come from.

"A word or two?" she asked in a way that made me nervous.

"Well, actually Captain I've been summoned to the Medical office so I should probably get going."

"No you haven't," she said, stepping in front of me. "I was the one who made that call. If you please, it's important."

I was still looking for a way out. "Actually, I should probably get back to the prepping room."

But she stopped me again. "Listen up you little shit, I know what you and Brittany did in the locker room the other night."

I looked up at her with shocked eyes. "Oh, um, right well… it wasn't us?"

"'It wasn't us'?" she chuckled sarcastically. "Is _that_ what you were planning on telling a multi-trillion dollar government agency when they discover you knocked up one of their crew members and got her pregnant?"

"Woah woah woah!" I backed up from her, insulted. "No need to disrespect the pull out game like that!"

"You think this is a joke?" She didn't seem as angry as she was pretending to be. "I could have reported you, but I don't think it would have made a difference." She leaned over the railing to stare at the _Caesar_ along with me.

"Look," I said, "what's this all about?"

She sighed. "Listen Alvin, I'm going to give you some instructions. Now it's very important you keep this between us."

"What do you mean?" I said.

"In the cargo bay. On the _Caesar_. Hidden in a cabinet in the back left corner. The cabinet's locked, and the only key is strapped underneath your mattress."

"What's inside the cabinet?" I asked suspiciously.

She hesitated. "Only open it in the case of extreme emergencies. I think it may come in handy. Just… please keep this between us. Promise?"

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "I read you Captain."

"Good," she said. "You should get back to the prepping room now."

I saluted, somewhat jokingly and said, "aye sir." And with that I began to walk back in the direction I came.

Just as I was about to round the corner out of her sight, she called out, "Alvin!"

I stopped.

"May God be with you, and with the others."

"Thank you, Megs. For everything."

And I walked off, feeling confused, scared, thankful. Second thoughts were beginning to pop into my head about this mission. But it was too late to go back now.

 _Simon's POV_

There was one last thing to take care of before we boarded the _Caesar._ All six of us stood side by side, with Tom in front of us. In his hand he held six little white pills.

"Cyanide pills," he confirmed for us, as he handed us each one starting with myself. "Throughout the course of this program, we've had our astronauts carry one on their person at all times."

Eleanor's hands were shaking as she was the last one to take her cyanide capsule.

"Now remember," Tom continued, "these pills are only to be used in the case that you are stranded and there is no hope for rescue." He must have seen the frightened looks in our eyes, because he finished with, "never in the history of NASA has an astronaut been in the position of swallowing their pill."

Never in the history of NASA.

Because no human could fit inside the _Caesar_ , it was our responsibility to run all final interior diagnosis' ourselves. I was in the cockpit with Brittany as she was working out the kinks with the ship's navigation and communication instruments.

I watched as she typed into the ship's main computer, the Motherboard, " _this is Brittany testing Motherboard communication systems._ " The computer was only a blue background with white letters in the standard Times New Roman font.

We waited for a few moments before the computer screen refreshed with the response of, " _we read you Brittany. Proceed with testing instruments._ "

I nodded, reassured as everything was going smoothly. "Brittany, you got it from here?" I asked her.

She turned to the surveillance screen next to her and began flipping through each and every one of the cameras on board as she muttered, "yeah I got it… um, Sir."

That caught me off guard as I wasn't yet used to being in charge. Well, actually I was but not officially. "Good," I said, "in that case I'm going down to the engine room to check on Jeanette."

"You do that," she said without looking at me.

Jeanette was busy, as I expected, doing her job.

"Everything checks out," she told me. "The combustors react normally. The thrusters on all sides are functional."

"So if everyone else's departments are a go, you're saying that we're ready for liftoff?" I asked, clarifying.

"Yeah," she said, "I think so."

"Not good enough, Jeannie," I said. "Anything goes wrong and it's our lives that could end."

She hesitated, but finally said. "We're ready. The ship's in good shape."

I nodded. "Then this is it. Ellie's medical supplies and tools are all accounted for. Alvin just told me in the cargo bay that all of the equipment is ready. Theo said all of the rations are on board and organized. Brittany's instruments are all functional. We're taking off."

Jean looked up at me. "So this is it?"

"What do you mean," I said, looking into her eyes with confusion.

"You know, I've always liked you, Simon Seville. Always had a crush, even back when we were little kids."

I stepped closer and grabbed her waist as she put her hands on my arms. "I know," I whispered.

"Things will never be the same between us," she said, tears beginning to swell up in. "We're never going to be that cute celebrity couple that everyone adores. That won't be us anymore when we get back down here."

I wiped her tear away with my finger. "Don't think like that. Whatever life throws at us…" I paused to think of the right way to put this, "we can get through it. Together."

She looked up at me. "You mean that?"

"Of course," I said, reassuring her.

Without warning, she leaned in and pressed her lips against mine. And we stood there for at least 5 minutes locked in a passionate kiss.

It was 10 am. All systems had checked out. Launch was proceeding according to plan. As all six of us buckled into our assigned seats within the cockpit, we could hear the sound of Julian Mitchell's voice blasting over loudspeakers, announcing, "attention, everyone! The launch is about to commence! Please join us in giving the Chipmunks and Chipettes a warm farewell as they begin their heroic journey towards Mars!"

"Ok," I said as soon as everyone had buckled up. "All systems go?"

"Yes sir," Brittany said from her seat behind me.

"Very good. Houston, begin the countdown."

" _Confirmed_ ," Tom said into our headset from launch headquarters. " _Julian, begin countdown._ "

Once again, Mitchell's voice boomed out through and across the launch site: "Launch commencing in ten… nine… eight… seven… six…"

"Jeanette, fire the primary boosters!" I yelled.

"Five…"

"Aye," came Jeanette's reply.

"Four…"

The _Caesar_ began to rock violently as the boosters began to fire up.

"Three…"

Things began to get hot. And very loud.

"Two…"

Cheers began to erupt from the crowd.

"One… liftoff!"

The cockpit became more stable as the landing legs of the ship were slowly lifted off of the pavement.

"Brittany give me updates on our altitude," I yelled as I took control, trying to keep us balanced in mid-air.

Brittany obeyed, "Currently at 3 meters and blimbing. Now at four meters… now at five."

"Jeanette fire up the back thrusters."

"Aye."

With Jean's press of a button, the _Caesar_ began to surge forward while still climbing. I pulled up on the stick, forcing the nose of the ship up towards the sky.

"Jean, put the back thrusters at one hundred percent power and kill the primary boosters."

Jeanette did as she was told, and with a jolt we began to blast upward towards space.

"Altitude now at one hundred fifty meters and climbing," Brittany filled me in.

"Noted!" I responded.

As we flew, the cockpit was once again shaking more violently than they had prepared us for in simulators.

"We're now at a mile… now two miles."

I was struggling to keep us headed at the same general angle. It felt like it was taking hours.

"Forty-one miles."

My neck, arm and back muscles were very close to giving in.

"Eighty miles… Eighty-one now."

"W-we're out of Earth's atmosphere!" I yelled at my crew.

The ship began to calm down. The flight began to get smoother. "We're at one hundred and fifty miles above the Earth's surface," Brittany updated me.

"Jean kill the thrusters!" I barked.

She did as I commanded. The rockets propelling us forward died instantly, meaning the speed of the _Caesar_ began to decrease steadily. The whole ship ceased to vibrate completely. We were finally free of Earth's gravitational pull. We had done it. We were on our way.

 **And that was it! Sorry it was a long one, but I really felt like I needed to get the blastoff on this chapter for you guys, because my readers mean everything to me.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed please show the story some love by following/favoriting it and by leaving it a review. (You guys have been so great about it so far.) If you had some issues please don't hesitate to let me know, as I am ALWAYS open to hearing advice or constructive criticism.**

 **Finally, I'm still open to suggestions about the direction I'll be taking this story so if you have some ideas those would be a great reason to leave me a review or a PM.**

 **I'll be getting the next chapter to you guys soon. 'Till then, do what you can to pass the time ;).**


	5. The Journey Part 1

**Thank you to everyone who have been showing this story support! You guys keep this story cranking out!**

 **I've read a lot of fantastic and creative ideas for this story, and although I obviously can't use ALL of them, I'm definitely getting the feel for the general direction you guys want this to go and I think it meshes well with most of my original material idea.**

 **Also, just a disclaimer, this story will be heavy on the drama/suspense/suspicions/romance but the action may not be there as much.**

 **Chapter 5: The Journey Part 1**

 _Brittany's POV_

I felt weightless. I felt like if I had unbuckled myself from my seat I would have begun floating aimlessly around the room. Because, well, that's exactly what would have happened. We had done it. We were free of Earth's gravity. It was just us six chipmunks hurling towards Mars.

"Brittany!" Simon called back to me. "Let Houston know we're still looking good. I'm switching it to auto pilot now."

I rotated back to the Motherboard and typed, " _Caesar has broken gravitational pull, autopilot being turned on. All systems still looking good._ "

The vibrations of the ship seemed to stop altogether after autopilot had been switched on. The ship made a slight change in course to make sure we arrived at the planet as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Motherboard's screen lit up again. Houston's response was: " _Congratulations you six. You have made your planet proud. Communications from now on will get slower and slower due to distance._ "

I quickly replied with, " _Noted._ "

I quickly unbuckled myself and allowed my body to rise above my chair. I just had to know what this really felt like, not just in a simulator. Everyone else soon followed my idea, prompting some "woah's" and "damn's".

Simon was the last one out of his seat. "Now hold on a sec everybody," he said to us. We all stopped and stared at him from wherever we were holding on to a railing or chair. "I think that before we all just go off and do our thing, that we need to set up shifts. Because at least one person needs to be manning this cockpit at all times, even when we're on autopilot."

We all agreed, but no one volunteered.

Simon nodded. "I'll go first, then."

"I guess it only makes sense that I go second, then," Jeanette said glumly.

"I'll take it after Jean," Theodore said.

Eleanor giggled. "I'll get fourth shift."

Just as I was about to take fifth, Alvin beat me to it.

It didn't really matter, so I just volunteered for sixth and moved on.

"Right," Simon said. "I'll set a timer. Every hour, the next chipmunk needs to relieve whoever's manning the helm."

That was good enough for the rest of us, as we all broke apart, leaving Simon alone in the cockpit. And you best believe my first stop was the kitchen, along with Theo and Ellie. "Can we break any of the food out yet?" I asked them.

They exchanged unsre looks at each other. "Well, we each have a limit of food we can eat per day," Theodore said. "If we eat now that's less for later."

"I know that," I said. "I'm just starving. I don't know why. It's probably just been a long day."

Ellie shrugged. "We could ask the rest of the guys and see if they want everything," she said sweetly.

"Good idea!" Theo chimed in. "I'll go see if I can find Alvin or Jeannie."

 _Alvin's POV_

I don't know what everyone else was doing, but my first move was to slip all the way down to our sleeping quarters. Everything Megs had told me before we lifted off was still fresh and clear. Her specific directions still replayed in my mind over and over, including: " _Only open the cabinet in the case of extreme emergencies._ " I just wanted to make sure the key was exactly where she said it would be.

To be honest with you, it took me a little while to even _find_ the sleeping quarters as the ship was so big. Or maybe it also was because I was kind of disoriented from having to push and float my way down hallways. The quarters themselves were in a relatively small room that was designed kind of like the room we slept in at NASA HQ.

Each of our beds were labelled. The chipmunks beds were on the opposite side of the quarters as the chipettes. My bed and Brittany's bed were in opposite corners. I looked around to make sure I wasn't being followed, then pulled myself over to my bed, windowside. "Under the mattress," I said under my breath. I double checked one more time to make sure no one was looking. Then I slid my hand underneath the mattress pad and began feeling around for the key.

I had to thrust my arm underneath the pad all the way up to my shoulder until I finally felt it. It was velcroed down to the bottom of the mattress. "Bingo," I said, unstrapping it and grabbing it in my hand.

But then I paused. _What am I doing?_ I asked myself, knowing full well I didn't need this key yet. _I should know what's in that cabinet,_ I told myself. _No, listen to instructions for once in a life._

Theodore's face suddenly popped into the doorway, which made me gasp. "Hey Al," he said cheerfully. Then he noticed me shoulder deep in my mattress and said, "what're you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," I tried. "Just making sure my bed's nice and comfy, ya know?"

"Oh, well I can check to make sure there's nothing wrong with it if you're having problems," he said.

"No thanks I'm good," I said, with my arm still underneath the pad.

"No it's no big deal!" he insisted as he pulled himself in my direction.

"I said no Theo! Leave me alone, please!"

He stopped himself, shocked at my sudden outburst at him. He gave me a suspicious look. "Some of the crew are thinking about breaking out some of the rations. What do you think?"

"Nah I'm not hungry," I said. "Thank you." I was trying to cheer up the mood.

"Ok," he said. He never stopped squinting at me out of suspicion as he guided himself out of the quarters and back the way he came.

 _That's it_ , I told myself. _I am opening that cabinet. And that's that._

 _Simon's POV_

Being in the cockpit alone wasn't all that bad. I was able to watch what everyone else was doing while I sat and hoped nothing went wrong. My sweet Jeannie had gone straight to the back section of the ship to admire the view of Earth. I know Brit, Ellie and Theo went to the kitchen but I had lost track of Alvin.

After a while of flipping through the camera feeds, the door to the cockpit slid open behind me. I turned to see Theodore push himself in with his legs. "What's up Theo?" I asked, turning back to the video feed.

"Nothing much," he said, casually. "Do you think we should break out some of the rations now or save them all for later?"

"I'm good for whatever the rest feels like," I said, doing my best to sound like a leader.

He grabbed onto my shoulder, partly I think because he needed something to hold onto to hold himself down. "Alvin was acting real suspicious just now," Theodore said.

My ears perked. "How so?" I asked calmly.

"Well," Theo began to explain, "I found him in the sleeping quarters to ask him about the rations, but when I tried to get close to him he snapped at me."

I chuckled. "You sure he wasn't hiding Brittany in there?"

Theo shook his head. "She's been in the kitchen the whole time… it looked like he was hiding something under his bed."

"Hmm," I thought for a minute, before beginning to flip through the camera choices. "Let's see if we can't find our pal Alvin, then."

It took us only a moment before we flipped through the feed coming from the cargo bay. "Wait!" Theodore exclaimed. "Go back."

I went back to the cargo bay camera, and wouldn't you know it, there was Alvin. He looked to be snooping around the rover. He was looking around, as if searching for something. His eyes finally fixed on one corner of the bay. He pushed himself towards it. I panned the camera to follow him. He stopped himself at a large green cabinet, which we could only see the side of.

 _Alvin's POV_

This was it. It had to be. It was locked and in the corner of the cargo bay. I pulled out the key and inserted it into the lock. As it fit perfectly, I twisted it to the left, which didn't budge, and then tried to the right. The key twisted a full half circle and made a satisfying click sound. I pulled on the key, pulling the door open with it.

I peered inside and was shocked at what I saw.

Guns. Lot's of them, racked up so that the cabinet was literally packed full of them. But these weren't ordinary guns; they were chipmunk-sized. Perfect for a creature of our size to use just like any normal human being would. There were guns in there that I recognized like AK-47's, a few handguns, what looked like grenade launchers, and even tons of ammo to boot. There were many that I didn't recognize, but the point was we were loaded. Or, I guess as of right now, _I_ was loaded. What to do with this information was totally my decision.

But that wasn't it. Duct taped to the floor of the cabinet was a plain white piece of plastic. When I examined it closer I realized that it was in fact a pregnancy test.

 _Simon's POV_

From the angle of the camera, we couldn't see what was inside that cabinet. But we could tell that whatever it was, Alvin was shocked to see it.

"What do you think's in there Simon?" Theo asked me.

"Who knows," I said, "but whatever it is, he's clearly up to something."

"I hope not," Theodore said.

Suddenly, alvin shut and locked the cabinet without taking anything inside. He looked around, as if trying to make sure no one was watching, and pushed off towards the main section of the ship. "I want to find out where he keeps that key," I said.

But just as I began to follow him through the halls with the cameras, the cockpit door swung open. I quickly clicked back to the view of the kitchen and peered over my shoulder to see Jeanette had entered.

"Jeanette!" I said. "What are you doing here? My hours not up yet."

"I know," she said, pulling herself right next to Theo and I to see what we were looking at. She chuckled. "Creeping on the girls in the kitchen, huh?" she joked.

"Y-yeah," I said.

"You got us," Theodore said, trying to laugh.

 _Alvin's POV_

I wasn't fooling around this time. This time, I wasted no time in racing into the sleeping quarters, tucking the key back under my mattress, strapping it in with the velcro, and getting the hell out of there. I had to find Brittany.

Then I remembered: the crew was talking about eating. I should try the kitchen. Without wasting time, I flew out of the quarters and took a left without looking. I zipped through hallways and up through hatches, almost forgetting where I was.

I was going so fast I almost went right past the kitchen, but I managed to grab a railing and stop myself with a thud that alerted Eleanor and Brittany, who were both in there relaxing.

"Alvin!" Brittany exclaimed. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I insisted, pulling myself into the kitchen.

"What's the rush, Al'?" Ellie asked me.

I smiled at her with the same innocent smile I always shot at Dave. "Oh you know, just couldn't stand another second away from you two."

"Aw," she said. "Compliment taken," she said, winking at me.

I chuckled and turned to Brittany. "Brit. A word with you please?"

"What's going on?" she asked softly.

I leaned in and answered in her ear, "we need to go somewhere where there's no cameras. What room has no cameras?"

She giggled. "Alvie, is now really the time for _that_?"

"That's not what I meant," I insisted. "Please? It's urgent."

Her eyes widened as she looked at me to make sure I was serious. Then she turned to Eleanor who was staring at us suspiciously, then back at me. She whispered in my ear, "follow me to the engine room."

And we both floated off, with I'm sure Eleanor's gaze locked on us the whole way.

I followed Brit all the way down to the engine room, even though I knew where it was. It was mostly quiet, now that the thrusters had been reduced to no power, and best of all: there were no cameras.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "A lot has happened, and I should have filled you in on it sooner but I didn't."

She gave me a confused look. "Alvin what the hell are you talking about?"

"Before we took off," I explained, "Megs, she told me there was a key under my mattress. And she told me that that key opened a cabinet in the cargo bay. She said to only open it in an extreme emergency."

"Well, have you tried opening it?" she persisted.

"You know me too well," I said.

"What was inside?" she asked.

I gulped down my nervousness, as Megs had told me to keep all this to myself. "Guns, Brit."

She gasped.

"Chipmunk-sized guns. Dozens of them. And ammo. But that's not all Brit…" I trailed off.

"What else is there?" she said through deep breaths.

"Megs told me that I might need what's inside that cabinet - the guns. She made it seem like we were in danger."

"What do you think that means? In danger of what?"

I sighed. "I dunno. But we may want to keep an eye on the others. Our brothers and sisters, I mean."

Brittany gasped. "You don't think any of _them_ would try to hurt us… do you?"

"I just- I don't know what to think," I admitted. "But if anything happens at least we have protection - and each other. No matter what happens, priority number one for me is to keep you safe. Priority number two is myself. My brothers and Jeanette and Eleanor come after us."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about any of this?" she asked angrily.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I'm sorry. From now on, you're totally in the loop."

She rolled her eyes, looking like she was deciding between hugging me and slapping me. She finally decided on wrapping me up in a tight hug. I squeezed her back, genuinely being thankful for her presence and support.

"Brittany there's… one more thing that was in that cabinet."

She broke the hug and looked up at me. "What?"

I looked deep into her eyes, knowing she really didn't want to hear this. "A pregnancy test."

 _Theodore's POV_

Jeanette had finally taken Simon's shift, meaning he and I could leave the cockpit and talk about what we had seen. As soon as we had rounded the corner, Simon stopped me. "We need to discuss Alvin," he said.

"What do you think's going on?" I asked him.

"I don't know, Theodore. I don't know." He seemed deep in thought. "It definitely looked like he was up to no good."

"W-what should we do?" I asked in a cracked voice.

"You let me take care of it for now. Don't tell anyone, got it?"

"What about Eleanor and Jeanette?" I said.

"No," he repeated sternly. "Tell no one. Let me confront Alvin."

"You're telling me to just not worry about this? After what I just saw?"

"Precisely," he said.

"Well I-"

I was interrupted by him saying, "great. Knew I could count on you, bro."

And with that he pinched my cheek and floated off.

 _Eleanor's POV_

It was actually very hard to prepare a meal for six in space. Especially since Theodore was barely any help, which was so unlike him. But something was clearly on his mind, so it was on me. I managed to throw together rations to make plain baked potatoes, an apple each, and a few pieces of jerky. To drink we had recycled water in a bottle (don't even ask me where it came from because neither of us want to know). Despite my best efforts, the whole package was pretty tasteless.

We all strapped down together at the table. Simon decided that it would be ok seeing as though, theoretically if there were any problems, the _Caesar_ would alert us.

"Sorry the food's so shitty, guys," I apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Alvin said. "We'd expect nothing better than shitty food on a spaceship."

Everyone began to dig in, forcing the plain food and water down their throats, knowing that if they didn't they'd be hungry later.

"So," Simon finally spoke up. "Let's talk about what we busied ourselves with. After we all unbuckled, I mean."

"Why?" Jeanette said shrugging. "What's the point."

"Just curious," I said. "About how everyone was passing the time. Alvin, why don't you start."

After taking another obviously painful bite of jerky, Alvin noticed all eyes were locked on him. "What do you want me to say?" he said through a mouthful.

"Oh, we all know how easily bored you get Alvin," Simon said cynically. "How'd you entertain yourself while I was taking my shift?"

Alvin swallowed his food. "I dunno," he said. "Took a nap. Talked to Brittany. Just kinda floated around. There's not exactly a whole lot to do on this ship," he said.

"Oh, but there is," Simon said slyly. "You may not know this but we actually have a few magnetic board games on board."

"Magnetic board games?" Alvin said.

"Yes, mainly Chess and checkers." Everyone looked at Simon, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

Alvin shrugged. "Never really learned how to play Chess. Checkers is easy enough."

"Oh but it's easy," Simon insisted. "Chess is, I mean. I'd love to teach you, perhaps tomorrow. If you're not busy, that is?"

"Um, nah I'm not busy," Alvin said in an unsure voice. "Sounds great to me. Thanks bro."

"Great!" Simon sarcastically pretended to struggle to contain his excitement. "Something tells me you'll be very good at Chess… bro."

Alvin, as if suddenly realizing something wasn't right, looked up and at his brother's smug, grinning face. Simon raised one eyebrow at him, eyeing him down. They had a staring contest for a few seconds before Alvin went back to eating and avoiding Simon's suspicious glares.

 **There it is! What do you think Megs was warning Alvin about? Who/what should they be looking out for? Is Brittany pregnant? How is this whole thing going to shake out? I'll be dropping the next chapter ASAP!**

 **And as always, if you liked the content, please show the story love by Favoriting/Following it, as well as giving it a review. If you had some problems or questions, I'm always listening to those as well. And, not that this will ever change, but potential ideas for the upcoming chapters are also welcome. It always brings me so much joy to know people are reading my stories and thinking about them creatively.**

 **So whatever you do, make sure you keep up the support and I'll be hard at work writing!**


	6. The Journey Part 2

**Well, it's that time again. You all have waited patiently and I'm finally hitting ya with the next Chapter in this story. The buzz surrounding this story is unreal and it's an honor to be writing something that people are actually following. You guys have been awesome, so thank you.**

 **Also, this chapter should be pretty similar to the last one in terms of pacing. Hopefully you like it.**

 **Chapter 6: The Journey Part 2**

 _Jeanette's POV_

Of course, with my luck, my second shift happened to be at the same moment that everyone else decided to try to catch some shut eye.

The ship was almost totally silent, as we hurled towards Mars at an actually insanely fast pace. There were no boosters or thrusters active. The autopilot had to make some minor adjustments to our course every once in awhile, but the _Caesar_ honestly seemed still.

I passed the time by tossing a crumpled up piece of paper between my hands, and by watching the camera feed from the sleeping quarters. All five of the others were strapped down into their beds. Brittany and Alvin were in opposite corners, as were Theo and Ellie. Simon was in the middle, across from the bed that I was going to be laying down on top of in just a short hour.

Simon's head was turned so that he was facing Alvin, while Alvin was on his side looking away from his brother. Every once in awhile, Simon would open just one eye, look Alvin up and down, and then close it. Alvin would also occasionally open his eyes and turn to make sure Simon was still where he was. At one point, they both opened their eyes at the same exact time, and Alvin turned to face Simon while Simon was still spying on him. As soon as they made eye contact, Simon shut his eye and Alvin snapped his head back around.

It broke my heart, the distrust they had for each other. And I didn't even know why. It made no sense. All I knew is they were both acting weird at dinner. The fact that things had gotten so bad between those two and I was so out of the loop made me want to cry.

 _Eleanor's POV_

I forced my sleepy self out of our sleeping quarters. My hair was all over the place, my eyes barely open. But it was almost time for me to take the cockpit shift from Theodore. I calmly pulled myself through the hallways and up to the door to the cockpit. I put in the code "1958". The door slid open with a whoosh, allowing me to float into the flight control room.

Theodore was in the captain's seat, staring ahead. Mars was just becoming visible as a little red dot on the horizon. He barely even seemed to notice me entering the cockpit. He had his cheek resting on his fist as he seemed to have something deep on his mind.

I smiled slyly and floated over to where he was buckled down. I seemed to startle him as I grabbed onto his shoulders to stop myself and wrapped my legs around his chair to anchor me down.

"Oh it's you!" he breathed a sigh of relief.

I giggled and whispered into his ear, "yes, hun. It's me." I started to massage his shoulders as I could feel they were tense. He chuckled nervously as I rubbed the knots out of his traps. When I finished I leaned in closer to him and said, "feel better?"

He smiled up at me and replied, "mhm."

"Good," I said giggling. Our eyes locked for a split second, prompting me to go in for the kiss.

He went along, leaning his head back and returning the kiss, before he suddenly broke away and pointed at the cockpit camera staring down at us. "NASA's watching," he said.

"Well if they didn't want to see any making out," I said using my fingers to pull his chin back up towards me, "then they shouldn't have sent six teenagers into space alone."

He shrugged, trying to hold back laughter. "Good point," he whispered, pulling me in for another kiss.

We made out right in front of that camera for what felt like forever. Definitely past when Theodore was off of his shift.

He finally broke away. "There's something I need to tell you," he said. "Simon told me not to tell anyone, but you mean too much to me to keep you out of the loop."

"What is it?" I asked.

He put his hand over his mouth to keep the camera from reading his lips. "Alvin's been acting really strange lately," he muttered.

I looked up at the camera, then also cupped my hand around my mouth and said, "yeah I noticed. Simon too."

"Simon has a good reason though," Theodore said, keeping his mouth covered.

"Why?"

"We caught Alvin sneaking around on the camera feed," Theo whispered. "He was sneaking around like he was up to something."

"What did he do?" I asked with wide eyes.

"Opened some cabinet," Theodore said, shrugging. "We couldn't see what was inside, though. He hid the key somewhere. Who knows what he's up to."

"You don't think he'd put us in any real danger," I asked unsteadily, "do you? Theo?"

He rolled his eyes. "No of course not," he said sarcastically. "He's _never_ done that."

I squinted at him, surprised that he'd make such a comment. "I mean on purpose. Like to just screw us over. This is space, anything goes wrong we could die."

"Just trust me Ellie," he said to me. "Alvin's hiding something from us. Whatever you do don't trust him."

I nodded, wanting to cry about the fact that this was where our group had stooped to. "Understood."

 _Simon's POV_

We had all taken a few shifts each since catching some sleep. To my surprise, Alvin had actually taken up my offer on teaching him Chess. We sat buckled into seats on opposite side of the "kitchen" table as Eleanor was throwing rations together by herself (Theodore was on helm shift).

The magnetic Chessboard stuck to the metal table, and the pieces stuck to their desired squares.

I began by explaining to him the different pieces. "This is the king, and the queen goes next to him." I was expecting Alvin to have that bored look on his face by now that signalled to me that he wasn't paying attention, but he actually looked like he was interested and comprehending what I was saying. "These are the bishops, they go on both sides of the king and queen. And these are the knights," I said, placing the knights by both bishops. "And these are the rooks." I placed the rooks in the corners they belonged. I then placed eight smaller, plainer pieces in a row in front of my eight power pieces. "And these are the pawns."

Alvin nodded and began to set up his own pieces exactly as I had shown him. He was white, I was black. It was puzzling me exactly why Alvin suddenly had an interest in learning the complex but fascinating game of Chess. Perhaps extreme boredom had driven him to look for _anything_ to do. Or perhaps he was playing with me, and maybe even trying to convince me he's innocent by spending some quality time with me. Either way, I thought it'd be a good time to let him know I had my eye on him.

"Good," I said as soon as he had finished setting up his pieces. "Now, the first thing to keep in mind with Chess is that the white player always, _always_ , goes first."

Alvin looked down at his pieces. "What can I move?" he asked.

"Well, you have some options," I said, stroking my chin. "The most common first move is to simply move one of your pawns a space or two forward."

"Ok," he said. He looked closely at his pawns, chose the one right in front of his queen and moved it two spaces ahead.

"The purpose of this is to not be too aggressive," I said, making sure to pause so that Alvin would make eye contact with me. I raised my eyebrow and squinted at him as I said, "you start with just a chill, non-threatening move that won't alert your opponent of your strategy. You put something that is barely significant to you in harms way, while saving your more important pieces. But in reality you're just setting up for a deadly strike that is to come later."

I could tell Eleanor was paying attention to us because I could smell the potatoes burning.

Alvin gulped and looked back down at the board. "How do you win?" he said nervously.

I smiled, knowing I had him where I wanted him. "Well, let me set up an example." I rearranged the board so that a few more of our pieces had been brought out from their starting spots. "This is your queen, here, and it's your move. And you see that you can take my queen way over here." I pulled his queen piece over and replaced it with my queen, sticking the taken piece to the metallic table. "And you do, because you only see the short term benefits of that move. Unfortunately for you, that left your king wide open. So I take my bishop…" I moved my piece to a space from which it was threatening his king. "And wham! You're in check."

"What happens now?" he asked, clearly becoming annoyed with my obvious metaphors.

I grinned at him. "Well, in this position you can't move away from check, because you're trapped, you can't take the bishop, because you moved your queen away, and you can't block the check, because there's nothing left around to defend yourself. Therefore…" I took my bishop and violently whacked his king off of the board, sending it flying into the wall behind Alvin. "Checkmate."

Suddenly, Eleanor noticed the smell of the burning food and exclaimed, "ugh, dammit!" She turned back towards her job as the king piece was still floating around the kitchen.

"And all because you had to get greedy, Alvin," I emphasized in a harsh mutter.

Alvin had not stopped glaring at me this whole time. "Don't talk to me about getting greedy, Simon," he growled at me.

I was surprised at him. "Look, _Alvie_ , I don't know what you're up to. I don't know if it's big or just a little prank. But I know you're up to no good. And it's only fair I let you know that I'm onto you."

"Don't try to spin this around onto me, Simon," Alvin snapped at me, looking me up and down suspiciously. "I'm the one who's onto you. I know for a fact that some shit is going to go down on this mission and if _you're_ the one who starts that shit…" he unbuckled himself and pointed an accusing finger at me. "I'll be ready for you."

And with that he used his legs to push himself out of the kitchen and down the hallway.

I sighed out of frustration and slapped my palm with my forehead. What the hell had happened to my family. I suddenly noticed Eleanor, who had turned off the stove, staring at me with the king piece in her hands and tears welling up in her eyes. She slunk and let her eyes drop to stare at the floor as she tossed the piece to me. I could hear her begin to sob uncontrollably as I put the piece back on the board.

Without saying a word to her I unbuckled myself and floated off, knowing she needed some space.

 _Jeanette's POV_

Of course, everyone had heard about the "Chess lesson" Simon had given Alvin a few sleep cycles ago. We had also heard about the threats they had thrown at each other. I still had absolutely no idea what any of it was about. I had hoped Simon would have filled me in at some point, but he never took the opportunity to.

Alvin and Simon had done pretty much everything they could to avoid each other, which was probably for the best. One more confrontation could have ended badly.

After the Chess incident, Simon had announced that Alvin was no longer allowed to take shifts in the cockpit. Alvin didn't complain, but that decision took a pretty big toll on the rest of us. Especially during the hours where we were supposed to be getting sleep. As a matter of fact, Alvin basically did nothing for those 96 hours.

When Theodore relieved me from my shift, I finally decided I was tired of being ignored. Knowing via NASA cameras that Simon was in the Cargo Bay, I wasted no time in flying through the ship, zipping by Alvin and Brittany as I made my way to meet him. I opened the door to the cargo bay and pulled myself in, looking around for Simon. "Simon?" I called into the giant bay.

"Over here!" he said.

I followed the direction of his voice over to where he was standing. When I caught up with him he was standing, staring intently at a large green cabinet in a corner. "What's in there?" I asked him.

"I haven't the faintest idea, Jeannie," he grumbled.

"Well… why don't you open it to find out?" I suggested, trying to be helpful.

He shrugged. "Would if I had the key."

"Where is it?"

"Look is there something I can help you with?" he snapped at me out of frustration. His look softened up as he saw the hurt in my eyes. "I'm sorry that was uncalled for. I've just been so… angry lately."

"You've been angry!" I laughed at him in a way that let him know he was about to get scolded. "You and Alvin have been tearing this ship apart the last five days. And you won't even tell me why. Your second in command, your girlfriend, and you won't even tell me what's going on!"

"It's Alvin," he tried to explain. "He's been snooping around. He has the key to this cabinet and won't let anyone else open it!"

"So? What part of that says to you that it's too _deep_ for me? Or whatever lame ass excuse you're gonna use?"

"Look I'm sorry. I was trying to handle this internally. I didn't want you to feel unsafe."

"I'm not a toddler, Simon," I groaned. "I'm a big girl. I can handle drama."

"This isn't like the dumb shit we fought over in high school," Simon whispered. "Alvin could be putting us all in great danger."

"Well, I don't know what he's doing exactly, but-"

"But neither do I," Simon interrupted, "and that's what really worries me. Just promise me, whatever you do, don't trust him."

"Maybe I should talk to him?" I suggested.

"No!" Simon snapped. "It'd only make him more paranoid."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

"Also, don't trust Brittany. At least as far as Alvin goes."

"What?" I looked him up and down with a shocked expression on my face. "How could I not trust my own sister?

"Don't think for a moment that Brittany hasn't bought into whatever lies Alvin has fed her," he warned me. "As much as it pains me to say this, Brittany's just as dangerous as Alvin until she proves that she's on our side."

 _Brittany's POV_

Alvin had warned me about the others, in a kind of condescending way I might add. I understood that he was only trying to protect me, but telling me to not listen to or go anywhere alone with Simon, Jeanette, Theodore or Eleanor was pretty ridiculous. At least, as far as my sisters were concerned.

I figured there was nothing wrong with helping them out in Medical, even though they didn't really need it. Simon was on helm shift, Alvin in sleeping quarters as usual. God knows where Theo was. It was just the three sisters, doing checks on the systems in the Medical room.

I wasn't really helping, because I had sort of invited myself. I just wanted to spend time with them.

"The mini-greenhouse hasn't shown any problems so far," Ellie said to Jeannette. "Let's try bringing the temperature down even more." She typed -63 into the temperature input. "This'll be the average temperature on Mars," she mumbled.

We could hear the machine rumbling, as it began to drop the temperature within itself to negative 63 celsius. When it finished it gave a little _ring_ noise as if it was some kind of microwave.

"Awesome," Eleanor said, grinning from satisfaction. "Works like a charm."

"Anything else?" Jean asked her.

"Hmm," she said, thinking about it. "Just a certain cabinet that we gotta open in the Cargo Bay." She winked at me. "How do you think we could go about doing _that_ , Brit?"

I chuckled nervously, a little bit offended. "I wouldn't know," I responded.

"Oh come on," Jeanette said in a fake joking tone. "Alvin has to have told you where he keeps the key, right?"

"N-no," I said, looking away.

"But he _has_ told you what's inside, right?" Ellie pressed me.

I glared into her eyes, clearly annoyed. "Maybe, maybe not. That's my business."

"So you don't think he should show us what's in there? That seems like a pretty fair request to me." Jeanette was getting on my nerves.

I rolled my eyes. "Look, Alvin was given a very clear warning that he might need to protect himself."

Their eyes widened. "From what?" Jeanette said.

"He doesn't know," I said, regretting ever opening my mouth. "Maybe from Simon or Theo." They gasped. "Or maybe from one of you."

"Wait," Eleanor interrupted angrily. "You don't actually think we'd do anything to hurt you or Alvin… do you?"

"Of course not," I sighed. "I don't know what to think. I just know Alvin's not trying to cause trouble."

"Why do I have a tough time believing that?" Jeanette scorned sarcastically.

I glared at her. "You got something to say, Miss _Second in Command_?"

"Yes I do," she snapped. "Alvin has a serious history of bad decision-making. And if he's innocent then all he needs to do to prove it is to open up that cabinet." Jeanette looked at Eleanor and nodded towards the door to the medical room, signalling to her that it was time to leave. "Until then, he might as well be guilty."

As they floated through and out the door, all I had time to say before it shut behind them was, "guilty of what?"

But there was no answer. They had left me. And I felt so alone. It was like I didn't even know my sisters anymore. Or Alvin for that matter. Or myself. Oh God, I felt so alone.

 _Alvin's POV_

After I had been dismissed from Helm Shift duties, I had spent almost all of my newly found free time in sleeping quarters. That doesn't mean I was always sleeping, because I wasn't. But it wasn't like there was anything to do anywhere else on this ship, especially since Simon clearly had no real interest in teaching me Chess. And besides, I was within reaching distance of the key to the cabinet in case of emergency.

I absolutely _never_ left sleeping quarters when Brittany was on Cockpit Shift, which was the case at this time. I felt way too insecure. Because if push came to shove, I knew it would be four against one.

In all this time I had to myself in the sleeping quarters, I had taught myself some floating tricks. The last couple of hours I had been trying this weird creative backflip off of the ceiling… over and over again. I hadn't landed it quite the way I wanted to, until after what must have been the millionth time, when I finally managed to stick off of the ceiling, do a full double backflip, and land both feet on Simon's bed without a double step. "Woohoo! And the crowd goes wild!" I exclaimed, making fake crowd cheers with my breath.

"I'm hardly impressed."

Simon's threatening, cynical voice made me freeze. I turned towards the only door to the quarters, which was now blocked by not just Simon but Jeanette, Theo and Ellie floating there as well.

My heart sank as I knew in my gut that it was do or die time.

"H-hey guys," I said nervously. "What can I do for ya?"

"I'm going to make this real simple, Alvin," Simon threatened me. "You're going to tell me where you've hidden the key. And then you're going to wait here with Jeanette and Theodore while Eleanor and I go to open up that cabinet."

I scratched my head, pretending I was confused. "I don't recall what key you're talking about, Simon," I said.

"No more games, Alvin," Theodore growled at me. "You have the whole crew on edge. Just give Simon the key and we can take care of this the easy way."

I squinted at him. "Kiss my ass."

"That's it!" Simon exclaimed from frustration. "We're doing this the hard way." He turned to the others. "You all know what to do."

Theodore and Eleanor stayed put, guarding the door, while Simon and Jeanette began pulling themselves slowly towards me on opposite sides, looking ready to pounce at me at any second. Sweat dripped down my forehead as I tried desperately to think of a way out. _Should I try to quickly grab the key and break through the wall of Theo and Ellie?_ There were a million things that could go wrong with that. Jean and Simon could get to me before I can even grab the key, and then they'd know where it was. And even if I made it past Simon and Jeanette, Theodore and Ellie wouldn't be easy to just blast through like a game of red rover.

Just as Simon and Jeanette were almost on top of me, Brittany's voice squeaked nervously over the ship's intercom: " _Attention! All crew members report back up to the cockpit! We're about to enter Mars' gravitational pull._ "

Simon hesitated, before he groaned and said, "ok, everybody get to the cockpit, ASAP. And buckle in."

We all started to float towards the exit of the quarters. But just as I was about to pass Simon, he grabbed me by my shirt, looked me dead in the eye and muttered, "this isn't over. I will get that key."

 **And that's Chapter 6! I'm having so much fun writing this and I hope you're having fun reading it.**

 **If you ARE enjoying this story, be sure to let me know either in a review or by giving it the follow/favorite (or both). If any part of this story bugs you for any reason, I want to hear about that as well because constructive criticism is what makes you a better writer.**

 **Everyone has been awesome when it comes to supporting this story. You guys have not only motivated me to keep pumping these out quickly as possible but also to continue to improve to make sure the story stays fun and interesting.**

 **More content coming soon! Peace out :P**


	7. The Red Planet

**As usual, you guy were really good with showing the last chapter support. I saw a lot of great and interesting theories and I also got a lot of helpful feedback which I will continue to try to use to improve my writing.**

 **Now obviously, even though all of your suggestions were interesting, I can't use all of them. (Also, for the reader who asked, this is the CGI version of the chipmunks).**

 **Hopefully you guys like this chapter even more than the previous ones.**

 **Chapter 7: The Red Planet**

 _Simon's POV_

We all buckled into our assigned seats, as we had trained. I looked and realized we had a good half an hour until we hit the gravitational pull of Mars. I turned around and shot Brittany a threatening glare. She pretended to not see it, keeping her eyes glued to the Motherboard screen.

"Is everyone ready?" I barked. "Sound off!"

"Everything's looking good!" Jeanette piped up.

"Same with me!" Eleanor said.

"And me," Theodore said confidently.

There was a long pause. I turned around in my seat and looked straight at Brittany and Alvin, who were pretending to be pre-occupied. "Sound off!" I repeated impatiently.

Alvin rolled his eyes. "I'm good."

"All systems go," Brittany added unenthusiastically.

"Alright everybody," I tried to sound encouraging. "We all know the drill. Just like in training."

"Everything looks normal," Brittany piped up, still looking down at the ship's instruments.

"Good. Jean, are the thrusters fully functional?"

She shot me a confused look, grinning slightly at my attempts to sound authoritative. "I see no reason why they wouldn't be," she said.

I blushed. "Right, very good. Thank you."

It wasn't long before the gravitational pull of Mars was first felt on the ship.

"Jeanette, kill the acceleration!" I ordered. The engine's humming became very dim, as our momentum combined with gravity was enough to hold us on our course towards the red planet.

We began to pick up speed, slowly at first, but gradually increasing. Without my saying so, everyone double-checked to make sure they were strapped in reliably. We all knew that we were in for a bumpy ride.

The _Caesar_ continued to hurl towards Mars at a dangerously increasing rate. The temperature inside of the cockpit began to get hotter and hotter. The whole ship started to vibrate. I took control and fired the thrusters in the opposite direction, trying to slow us down. It slowed us down a little but didn't seem to have much of an effect. Memories of the final pain tolerance test began to race through my mind, as the cockpit now felt like the inside of a crockpot. Sweat trickled down my face as I increased the power of the thrusters. I knew that all of the others on board were relying on me.

We were now entering Mars' atmosphere, flames beginning to form around the _Caesar_ similar to a comet. The ship was now shaking so hard that it made it hard to see.

"Simon w-we're getting awful-l close!" Brittany shouted at me.

Struggling, I fired the reverse thrusters to full power. All of our heads snapped forward with a jolt as the ship suddenly slowed its descent. The shaking evened out as our entire view in front of us was different hues of red. The feeling that we were free-falling became less prevalent as the thrusters slowed the ship until we were hovering just a mile or so above the surface of Mars.

The terrain looked rocky in most places and very uneven. Radar detected a flatter, sandier area nearby surrounded on three sides by a small, red, rocky mountain. I quickly righted the ship so that we were facing the horizon within the cockpit, and guided us over to the smoother landing spot with brief sporadic bursts of the side thrusters.

Guiding the _Caesar_ was easier said than done with the weather conditions the way they were. It seemed we had arrived in the middle of a windstorm, which had picked up sand and small pieces of debris. The wind itself was blowing at about 50 miles per hour, which combined with the dust made it extremely hard to maneuver the ship.

We finally floated over to the foot of the mountain, which was very smooth and sandy with only a few scattered rocks and boulders. With the press of a button, Jeanette lowered the three landing legs. I began to gently reduce the power of the thrusters, letting _Caesar_ lose altitude slowly.

"Too fast, Simon," Brittany winced.

We were very near the ground now. Using the manual stick, I rotated us until the landing gear was perfectly situated so that all three legs would touch down on sand. Sweat was still gushing from my forehead and sliding into my eyes and down my cheeks as I lowered us inch by inch towards the ground. Everyone held their breaths. We were just a few feet above the surface.

Suddenly the wind picked up in a gust and blew us a couple yards off course, just as the legs were about to land safely. The foot of the back-right leg violently struck a large jagged red rock that was protruding from the sand. The whole ship jolted from the impact with a harsh screeching noise. We all gasped because we knew this was trouble as the other two legs finally touched down in smoother areas.

"Shit!" I cursed as threatening sirens erupted through the whole ship. We all unbuckled as I began barking orders. "Jeanette get down there and check the systems for damage. Alvin get in a suit and check it out from outside."

Alvin and Jeanette stood up and left the cockpit in a hurry as I typed the code 1958 into the Motherboard and shut off the sirens. The ship became quiet again and very still.

"Brittany is there a breach in the hull?" Eleanor said, wrapping her arms tight around Theodore from fear.

Brittany typed into the computer, which prompted a detailed blueprint of the ship to appear on screen. She studied it before saying, "no breach, looks like something got crunched with the landing system though."

I sighed, wiping the sweat off of my brow. "Everyone grab a headset," I muttered.

Theodore, Eleanor, and Brittany all obeyed me. I picked up my own pair, tightened it around my forehead, brought the microphone down to my mouth, and said, "testing. One two, one two. If you can hear me sound off, over."

Brittany said, " _I can._ "

" _Mine's working fine,_ " Theodore said, trying to appear confident.

" _Same with mine,_ " Ellie whimpered, gulping down her anxiety.

" _I read you_." That was Jeanette's voice coming through the headset all the way from the engine room.

"Excellent," I breathed nervously. "Alvin, what about you?"

 _Alvin's POV_

I had forgotten how hard it was to get into those suits. And how uncomfortable they were. And as I stood in the middle of the cargo bay, forcing myself into the outer layer, I thought to myself how much I hated the fact that I was the "field officer". Which basically just meant I was there to be the grunt and to do all the dirty work. Because I had no special skills.

You could sense the slight tilt of the ship from the one leg standing on the rock.

I choked as I shoved the rest of myself up neck deep into the rest of the suit. Still in a hurry, I grabbed a round, clear helmet and twisted it onto the neck portion of the suit. I could hear the sucking, whooshing sound of air, making it airtight.

" _Alvin_?" I cringed as the sound of my brother Simon's voice was not what I wanted to hear at that moment. " _I repeat, are you ready to go out, yet_?"

"Yes, Simon," I groaned. "I'm good to go. Unlock the hatch."

As I stood over the round hatch in the middle of the cargo bay floor, I couldn't help but let my mind drift to the guns in the cabinet. I heard a faint clicking sound. " _Ok it's unlocked. Get your ass out there now._ "

I hesitated. Maybe I should bring a gun or two along with me before I give him the chance to lock me out? But it was too late to grab the key. So I swallowed my doubts, twisted the wheel to the hatch and pulled it open. I climbed down on the ladder and pulled the hatch shut behind me, making sure to twist it and make it airtight. Then I climbed down further to the hatch below me which led directly outside. I took a deep breath and clutched the wheel in both hands. I gritted my teeth and tried to twist it open but this one was way harder to budge, like a jar of pickles. Finally, it loosened up just a little, prompting what looked like steam to spray out from everywhere as the ladder room depressurized.

It was just a moment before I had gotten the hatch completely open. At that point, I was just a few feet above the surface of the planet Mars. I peered down at its redness, which made me feel queasy. Shutting and tightening the hatch behind me, I followed the rest of the ladder down towards the ground. The dust storm had calmed down a bit but was still blowing, which made it hard to see where the next steps were.

Suddenly, my foot slipped off of the bottom step, sending me falling until I landed flat on my back. The impact of my body to the ground sent a large cloud of dust and sand up, engulfing me before being blown away by the wind. Before I picked myself up I started to laugh uncontrollably at the thought that Earthlings' first steps on Mars in history was a clumsy slip.

" _What the hell is so funny, Alvin_?" Brittany snapped at me through the speakers in the helmet.

"N-nothing just… fell."

I could sense everyone rolling their eyes from inside the ship. I pushed myself onto my feet and looked around. The bottom of the ship was high enough off the ground so that I could stand underneath it, although I wouldn't dare try that with Simon still at the helm. Just about the only things I could see were the landing legs. I spun around until - bingo - there was the busted leg.

" _Simon_ ," Jeanette said, " _Something is smoking in the landing gear… I think it's continuously trying to extend itself all the way but it can't. It's putting a lot of stress on-_ "

" _Just shut it down_ ," Simon interrupted.

" _Roger that_."

By now, I had made my way all the way over to the leg which I was supposed to investigate. The foot was resting in an awkward position and appeared to be literally bent out of shape. Some of the joints that lead up towards the ship weren't all the way extended like they were supposed to be. And I could see a thin trail of smoke coming from the joint that connected the leg to the inside of the ship. "I can see smoke too," I said grimly.

Suddenly, the smoke thinned out and went away.

"Oh wait, it stopped," I said.

" _That's good_ ," Jeanette said gleefully, "' _Cause that was me._ "

" _What else do you see, Alvin_?" Simon pressed.

I looked the whole thing up and down one more time. " _It looks stable enough, but it looks like we could be stuck here awhile._ "

I could hear everyone groan through the headset.

" _Very well_ ," Simon said to me, " _Return to the Caesar, if you please_."

"Nah, I thought I'd stay out here and admire the lovely view," I said sarcastically. To my surprise and frustration, I didn't even get a response.

 _Brittany's POV_

"Brittany, stay here and keep watch." Simon's words still echoed through my ears, even long after he had left me alone here in the cockpit.

Everyone was scrambling around in the wake of the "crash landing". Except for Alvin, he seemed pretty cool. Me, I just decided to sit back and let everything work itself out, as it always had done in the past. It honestly didn't seem like that much of an emergency to me. The landing gear was damaged but it was repairable, and we were planning on staying here for a while, anyway.

I watched over the camera feeds as Jeanette took Simon into the engine room, which was hazy with smoke. Simon coughed and waved his hand around his face like a fan so he could see better. Jeanette pointed to the engine that I assumed powered the landing gear. Simon nodded, shrugged, and briefly spoke. Jeanette hesitated before responding. Simon slapped his forehead and rubbed his temple out of frustration.

Without warning, the cockpit door slid open with a whoosh. I jumped and spun around in my chair, to see Alvin walk in and give me a sly grin. "Hey gorgeous," he said.

" _Alvin_ ," I giggled. "Not the time or the place."

He rolled his eyes. "It never will be," he whined, stepping towards me. He put his arms around me, and before I could protest he kissed my cheek. "How have you been holding up?" he whispered, sounding genuinely concerned for me.

"Eh, ya know. Trying to not be too stressed out." I looked into his eyes. "Was it bad?"

"The leg?" he said shrugging. "Not too bad. But we're gonna be here a while."

"I meant the thing with the others," I whispered. "In the sleeping quarters."

"Oh," he chuckled. "To be totally honest with ya, Brit, I had no idea how I was going to get out of there."

"Yeah I could tell," I joked.

"But it doesn't matter now," he continued. "They're busy with other things at the moment."

But that wasn't good enough for me. "So… what happens when Simon brings the attention back to you? And the key and all that?"

He bit his lip, as if thinking about how to properly answer that. "I'll do what I have to do, I guess," he muttered. He must have seen the fear grow in my eyes when he said this, because he almost effortlessly lifted me from my seat and held me romantically as if cradling a baby.

"Wooh!" I gasped, startled at his sudden affection.

"Feels nice to have gravity again, doesn't it?" he whispered into my ear.

I giggled as he walked around and sat down in the chair I had been sitting, placing me lying across his lap. We made long, silent eye contact, just staring into eachothers' eyes for a long moment.

I suddenly had a strange craving for peanut butter. "I'm hungry, are you hungry?" I said in an excited tone.

He scoffed at me. "Hungry? We just landed. Good luck getting Theo to get you a meal this early."

Deciding he was right, I sat up in his lap and leaned my face in towards him. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer until our lips locked. I slid my hand up his torso until it rested on his chest. We made out for a few minutes before I laid my head down on his shoulder and sat there until I fell asleep.

 _Theodore's POV_

"We should never have agreed to this," Ellie muttered, her head down, her arms folded across her chest, and her back turned to me. "I've said it before and I'll say it again."

I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "Look, it's been tough. On all of us. And not a lot has gone our way. But try to look on the brighter side, for me?"

She wiped the tears off of her cheeks and turned around to face me. "What brighter side?" she asked me cynically.

I thought about this for a little while, before coming up with, "We're all still alive and unharmed."

"Theo," she whispered, "if _that's_ the bright side, then that just makes me think even more that this mission was a bad choice."

I gritted my teeth because she had a good point. I wasn't that great at this whole comforting thing. I had always been the one who needed comforting throughout my childhood, and it had usually been Dave who was there for me. Even in the past, Ellie and I were usually there for _eachother_. But in this case, I felt all of the pressure of being there for comfort, and I really just felt like I had fell flat.

"I don't even know why I'm here," Ellie continued, whimpering. "The only reason they even brought me was in case someone got hurt. And God forbid that ever happens."

 _Brittany's POV_

Only half asleep to begin with, I suddenly stirred awake. My cheek was sore from being pressed against Alvin's shoulder for too long, who was also asleep. I looked around to try to spot what had woken me up.

And there were those three distinct "ping" noises again, clearly coming from the Motherboard computer. They were definitely in a pattern too. The computer repeated it: "PING, ping, PING."

I carefully rose up out of Alvin's lap to try to not wake him and stood on the cold metal floor. I hunched over the Motherboard screen, squinting to try to see what it was trying to tell me. The radar took up the whole screen, with the _Caesar_ at the center of its surroundings. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"PING, ping, PING."

I sighed and pressed Ctrl+t, which meant "track". The computer hesitated, before automatically scrolling up a few clicks, and then scrolling right a dozen or so.

"PING, ping, PING."

The screen throbbed with green ripples as the source of the "ping" had been tracked. My eyes widened at the pattern the Motherboard was showing me. "There's no way," I told myself. This was so odd that I made the decision that I almost never made.

"PING, ping, PING."

I reached for the headset, put it around my head, but didn't bother to tighten it and instead just held it up to save time. "Simon, it's Brittany. I need you in the cockpit right now."

" _Brittany? What's the emergency?_ " He sounded almost more annoyed than concerned.

"Just trust me," I muttered, "you need to take a look at this."

" _Ok? I guess I'll be right up, then._ "

"Thank you." I put the headset down, still staring at the radar screen.

"PING, ping, PING."

 _Jeanette's POV_

"Ok, here's what we know," Simon said, calling for the attention from the whole crew, who he had assembled for a meeting in the kitchen around the dining table. "The stress from the impact has snapped a rotor or two in the landing gear engine. Correct?"

Simon looking to me for confirmation threw me off-guard a little bit. "Yeah, that's the bulk of the damage," I responded.

"Shouldn't be too tough of a fix?" he pressed.

"N-no," I said. "But as I already told you, it'll take some time."

"That's no big deal," he said, waving me off. "And Alvin, you said the leg itself didn't look too bad?"

Alvin shrugged, clearly not an expert. "I mean, parts of it looked kind of fucked up. But I didn't see anything that really looked unfixable."

Simon nodded. "All of that is the good news, I'm afraid," he sighed.

We all gave him a confused look.

"Brittany, roll it out," Simon commanded.

Without saying a word, Brittany dragged out a large, thin sheet of paper and laid it on the table for all of us to see. We leaned over and squinted but couldn't figure out what was depicted.

As if on cue, Simon piped up. "This is a radar diagram of an area on Mars just a few dozen miles North-East from here."

"What is all of this?" Theodore asked, pointing to the map. "What are all of these shapes?"

"That's the thing, Theo," Simon said. "We don't know what those are. They're too perfect geometrically for them to be mountains."

"Could they be NASA projects left behind?" I asked.

Simon shook his head. "According to the official records, NASA has never landed or explored within five hundred clicks of where we currently sit."

I looked back down at the radar print-out. There was a large, dark square in the middle, with a smaller and lighter circle, a rectangle, and a couple more scattered shapes connected by long, thin cylinders. And believe me when I say it was just as confusing for us as it is for you.

At the center of the giant square was a small green dot which had ripples spreading out from it like a pebble being thrown into a pond. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to the dot.

"The reason I discovered that image," Brittany responded to me, "was because Motherboard picked up a signal from that exact location."

I raised an eyebrow. "What kind of signal?"

Simon answered before Brittany could even open her mouth. "We're not sure exactly, but… I believe it is some sort of distress signal."

Brittany gulped before pressing play on a recorder.

" _PING, ping, PING._ "

"An SOS?" I gasped.

Simon looked around at all of the eyes that were now concentrated on him. "It's possible, he said."

"Oh, hell no!" Alvin said. "All of this has bad news written all over it! I say we pick up and move to the opposite side of this planet as whatever is making that signal."

"We can't just run away from a call for help," Eleanor insisted.

"Besides," Simon interjected, "we can't move this ship right now anyway. The landing leg is too damaged to use right now."

"So what are we gonna do?" Theodore said.

"None of you are doing anything," Simon insisted, trying to calm us down. "Except for Alvin and I."

"Wait, what?" Alvin exclaimed.

"The two of us will take the rover to see if we can find the source of this signal," Simon continued, ignoring Alvin. "The rest of you will stay here. And wait for us to get back."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Alvin protested. "I don't know what your deal is, Si, but isn't it common sense to run _away_ from trouble."

Simon chuckled. "Since when has that been your first instinct?"

Alvin was about to respond sarcastically but realized Simon had him pegged. He crossed his arms furiously and simply muttered the words, "fine. But let's make it quick."

 **And that was Chapter 7! As always I really hope you guys enjoyed and I am so sorry this took a while to get to you guys. Hopefully I can drop the next one quicker.**

 **And as always if you like what you read then don't hesitate to smack that Review button and let me know specifically what you liked. (Also, if you haven't already, give the story the fav/follow). But the same goes for any constructive criticism you have as I am ALL EARS for whatever you have to say.**

 **So… yeah. More content coming soon. You guys are awesome :).**


	8. Not Alone

**Aaaaand I am back with the next chapter of Lost in the Stars! I'm so grateful for everyone that's reading and following this story! Your support has meant the world to me!**

 **Also, for the reviewer who asked, I can guarantee that there will be NO cheating/mixed couples in this story. (They had read my first story "War of the Worlds" where I experimented around with that a little bit). It didn't really feel right when I tried it and I will not be including it here.**

 **You guys seem to really be digging the suspense/mystery in this story so I'll try to amp that up for you starting… now!**

 **Chapter 8: Not Alone**

 _Alvin's POV_

Preparing for the trip shouldn't have taken that long. But I was taking my sweet time. The rover itself already came equipped with the tools we needed: Mars suits, flashlights (as the sun was beginning to go down), the only thing it didn't have was a gun.

While Simon was busy, I made sure to slip into the sleeping room and snatch the key from under my bed.

"Be careful." Brittany's voice made me jump and spin around to face her.

"Jesus, Brit," I sighed. "You scared me."

"Please don't do anything stupid. Not this time. For me."

"Don't worry," I assured her, walking past her towards the exit. "I told you before, I'll do what I need to do. No more, no less."

And with that I rounded the corner and left her alone.

 _Simon's POV_

"Just don't provoke anything," Jeanette pressed.

"Look, Jeanette, now's not the time," I told her as politely as possible, checking to make sure all of the equipment was secured in the surprisingly spacious rover.

To my shock, she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face her. "Listen to me, dammit!" She bursted at me from frustration.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "Look, I'm sorry. But there's a lot going on right now."

"I just don't want to see anyone getting hurt," she insisted. "Promise me you'll stay neutral! We need to trust that Alvin wants to do the right thing!"

"Jeanette I can't guarantee anyth-"

"Promise me!"

I rolled my eyes, letting out a deep sigh. "Fine, I promise I won't start anything."

"Thank you," she said, stepping onto the steps out of the rover. "That's all I needed."

"But if he has _any_ funny business going on," I retorted, stopping her in her tracks, "I'll do what I need to do."

 _Brittany's POV_

Frustrated, insecure, confused, scared, helpless. I clumsily plopped myself into my usual cockpit seat. I was going to be monitoring Alvin's and Simon's mission through the camera feeds and guide them with the sound of my voice. Because what else am I good for, right?

I started to flip through the cameras inside the rover. I could see Simon fidgeting around with the suits, making sure there were no leaks I guess. I switched to the cargo bay cams, where I could see Alvin enter the room, looking just about ready to go. I found myself putting my paw on the screen longfully. He was so hot and brave-looking. I don't know what I would do if he didn't come back.

I tensed as I watch him take a good, long look at that cabinet in the corner. I could tell he was seriously arguing with himself over whether or not to sneak a small handgun onto the trip, just in case. And finally, he shook his head and moved on towards the rover, which prompted a major sigh of relief and relaxation of my muscles.

Alvin climbed up the steps to the side of the rover, opened up the small compression chamber, and entered.

 _Alvin's POV_

Making sure to lock the double layered doors behind me, I took a deep breath as I entered the rover with the key to start it in one pocket and the key to the cabinet in the other for safe keeping.

I took a leap of faith by not grabbing a gun on my way out. Would I regret it? Only time would tell. I had no way of knowing what Simon had up his sleeve, but I decided that it would be best to stay as peaceful as possible.

He looked up at me, and I glanced back at him, but we didn't say a word to each other. I just turned my back to him and stepped into the front section of the rover, which was basically a round glass dome with the driver's seat, controls and instruments. I slid smoothly into the driver's seat, and admired the view from where I sat even though we were still just motionless in the cargo bay.

"Ok," Simon said, breaking the awkward silence. "Everything's checked out. We're good to go."

Without saying anything, I buckled myself in and strapped a headset around my forehead, prompting "the Smart One" to do the same. I looked up at the camera at the top of the dome, looking down at me and gave it a wide grin. "How's the view from up there, Brit?" I spoke into the microphone.

" _It was pretty good until your ugly ass came into the picture, Alvin._ " Brittany's sarcastic response made both Simon and I laugh.

"You know what, I didn't ask you," I retorted jokingly, "so just shut up and drop the ramp."

There was a pause, and a quick jolt that rocked the rover, before the ground of the cargo bay in front of us slowly dropped on one end. When it hit the dirty red surface of the planet, swooping up a cloud of dust, it formed a large ramp tall and wide enough for us to drive off.

I winked at the camera above me and said, "much obliged."

" _Just get out of here so we can have a break from dealing with you_ ," Brittany responded.

With that, I shoved the key into the ignition and twisted. But it wouldn't budge. The key wouldn't twist. I looked at it in confusion before I realized I had tried to use the wrong key. Embarrassed and hoping Simon hadn't seen me, I put the cabinet key back in my pocket and tried with the other.

This time, to my great satisfaction. the engine of the rover hummed to life. Keeping my foot on the brake, I put the big machine into gear. A rush of excitement filled my veins as I felt like a little kid again dreaming about driving cool cars.

I looked up at the camera one more time to say, "I'll see you soon, love," before slowly lifting my foot off the brake.

She giggled through the headset as the rover rolled forward like an old tank. " _Well I'll be seeing you the whole way through, lucky for me_ ," she said as the front wheel tires began treading down the ramp.

As soon as the back tires had hit the ramp, Simon said, "Roger that, Brittany."

I eased the brakes just a little as the rover slid down the ramp. It wasn't long before the front tires hit the dirty surface, bouncing the whole vehicle on its suspensions, followed by the back tires. As soon as the whole vehicle was off the ramp, I shifted to a higher gear and pressed the gas pedal. The sudden outburst of speed with a viscous-sounding humming noise took me by surprise. "This thing really goes," I joked as the rover continued to accelerate.

" _Alvin, set a course for North-East by East,_ " Brittany instructed.

As soon as we were clear of the mountain pass, I turned the wheel to the right until we were headed straight for the location that the distress signal was coming from. The ride was somewhat bumpy but I didn't care. Driving the rover truly felt like driving a tank. A fast, futuristic tank. And it made me very happy in a sort of primal way.

 _Jeanette's POV_

Fixing the landing gear was going to be busy work for the next few days. Busy work that I was very eager to procrastinate from however I could. The very minute that I had dug up a couple of replacement rotors, I decided to check on Simon and Alvin.

Wiping my hands clean of the grease as I walked, I made my way through the halls from the engine room all the way up to the entrance to the cockpit. In no real hurry, I typed the code into the door and pressed enter. It opened up for me with a swoosh.

As soon as I walked in I saw Brittany standing, her back turned to me, and the headset resting away from her on her chair. She hunched over and put her hands on her knees. I could hear her breathing heavily. "Brittany?" I whispered. Still panting, she mustered up what seemed like a lot of energy just to turn her head in my direction.

But before she could say anything, she collapsed to the ground with a thud. I gasped as she just lay there without making a peep or any movement. "Brittany!" I screamed and ran over to where she laid motionless and kneeled beside her. I began by lightly slapping her face to check her consciousness, but she didn't respond. I put my ear to her chest, and was relieved to hear that her heart was still beating and she was still breathing.

I jumped to my feet and pressed and held the button to speak into the intercom. My panicked words, "Theo and Ellie to the bridge right now! This is an emergency!" rang out through the whole ship.

I spun back around and knelt beside my unconscious sister once again. I picked her head up gently and said, "stay with me, Brit. You're ok. You're going to be fine…"

I just sat there for a moment holding Brittany tight, before Eleanor and Theodore rushed into the room together.

Eleanor saw Brittany in my arms and gasped. "What happened?" she exclaimed.

"She just… collapsed," I sputtered. "Please get her to the medical room right away."

Without wasting time, Theodore ran over to us and gently picked Brittany up and placed her on his right shoulder. With Ellie by his side, he carried her all the way out of the cockpit as fast as his legs could carry them. I watched them hopefully, until the door closed behind them with another "whoosh" sound.

I sat there on my knees for a few moments, completely still.

Then I suddenly remembered Alvin and Simon. Rising to my feet, I stepped toward the Motherboard screen, where I could see the rover chugging along the rocky terrain of Mars, making very great time with the help of Alvin's reckless driving. I picked the headset up off of the seat, fitted it to my head, and sat down where Brittany had just a few moments ago.

"Guys… this is Jeanette," I said into the microphone.

" _Jeanette_?" I could hear the confusion in Alvin's voice. " _Where the hell's Brittany_?"

"Brittany's fine she just… needed a break," I assured him.

There was a pause. Then Alvin responded to me with, " _I don't believe you_."

"Look," I said, deciding whether or not to tell him the truth. "She just fainted. She's fine."

" _I see._ "

" _I'm sure she's fine, Alvin,_ " Simon spoke up.

" _I sure hope so… for your sake._ "

" _Are you threatening me_?"

Trying to stop this before it got violent, I interrupted, "calm down guys! Brit's going to be fine. Alvin you should probably focus on the path ahead of you."

" _Alright, Jeannie_ ," Alvin grumbled.

"Be on guard," I warned. "You're coming up on the spot."

 _Eleanor's POV_

Though Theo insisted on carrying my sister himself all the way down to the medical room, it was clear to me that he was struggling. I did what I could to help him along the way, without interfering.

When we finally arrived, I had to put in the code to open the airtight door. A clearly exhausted Theodore stumbled through the opening and strenuously laid Brit's unconscious body face up on the bed as gently as he could.

Theodore slid to the floor, panting heavily.

I knew that it was my time to be the hero. That it was my time to be great. That the pressure was all on me to save my sister.

The first thing I did was check her pulse, which turned out to be dangerously low. "Theodore, get me a glass of water, STAT!"

Still clearly exhausted, Theo used his paws to pick himself up off the ground and jogged out of the room towards the kitchen.

Her breathing was becoming very scarce, so I automatically began CPR. As I pressed her chest repeatedly I sang the beat:

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive!"

I took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and breathed air down her throat. I put my ear to her chest, took another deep breath, and repeated.

She still hadn't snapped out of it, so I placed my hands on her chest again and, pressing harder this time, continued the CPR.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive!"

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and a a long, raspy gasp escaped from her mouth.

"Brittany!" I exclaimed as relief coursed through my body. As her breathing slowly became more regular, I threw a warm hug around her.

After a few moments of just laying down on the bed and catching her breath, she finally managed to murmur, "what the hell happened to me?"

I shook my head, tears of joy beginning to run down my cheeks. "I don't know."

Theodore suddenly charged into the room carrying a glass of water, and he looked almost as overjoyed as I was to see Brittany back in reality.

"But I'm gonna find out," I assured her. "Don't worry."

 _Simon's POV_

We were almost there. The rover had kept chugging along like a tank, despite the harsh terrain that we were travelling on. The sun had almost set, leaving the great Martian desert a deep but dim red hue.

I had sat up from my seat in the back and now stood up just behind Alvin, holding onto the back of his chair, staring ahead of us as the rover rolled on through a rocky pass.

"Ok Alvin," I said, "We're basically there once we turn this corner."

Alvin didn't respond, even as we neared the end of the small cliff that stood tall to our right. He simply took his foot off the gas pedal, allowing the vehicle to lose speed. He then dropped it a few gears and squeezed the brake ever so slightly as he began to steer us to the right, around the edge of the mountain. The big machine had to climb a boulder as it rounded the corner, but it seemed to do so effortlessly.

Suddenly, just as we had made it around the cliff, Alvin slammed on the brakes. The rover came to an abrupt stop with a painful screech, snapping our heads forward and back and causing me to lose my balance.

There, just meters in front of us, was flying a giant American flag, tattered and worn, covered with dust. It flapped in the harsh Martian wind, looking almost defeated.

But it was what was behind the flag that caused panic. As Alvin rolled us slowly around the beat up American flag, we got a better view. To our left was some sort of green house, which looked like all the crops inside had died long ago. Except it, like all of the other buildings in this base that we had stumbled upon, towered above us as they were obviously meant to contain full-sized humans. They all looked rusted and unused for God only knows how long. At the center of it all was a large multi-story building that must have taken up acres. It was bulky, and very sturdy-looking, in contrast to the little huts that surrounded it.

There was no movement or signs of life. The whole place looked abandoned, rusted out, and in some places destroyed.

"What the hell could have happened here?" Alvin muttered as he pulled us up closer to the main building.

"Who knows," I said. "But now I guess we know where several trillion dollars of debt came from."

"For real," Alvin chuckled. "Why didn't NASA tell us about this place?"

"That's a good question. Jeanette, are you getting all this?"

" _Yeah, I see it_." Jeanette responded.

Alvin slowed us to a stop just a few feet in front of a very large door that led into the main building. Without waiting for him to shut off the engine, I walked to the back of the rover and dug out a components of my Mars suit.

Alvin soon joined me in the awkwardly silent endeavor of getting our suits on. We both had not said a word until our dome helmets were on and locked in.

"Can you still hear me?" I said.

He looked at me and simply held his thumbs up.

" _I can hear you fine,_ " Jeanette said through my headset.

"Ok," I said. "Alvin, you bring the motion detector, and I'll carry the flashlight."

" _Affirmative_ ," he said sarcastically.

We exited the rover's belly cautiously. The sun had almost completely set, meaning my light was about to come in real handy.

"Alvin, if you pick up any movement on that thing at all, you need to tell me right away. Ok?"

" _Nah I thought I'd keep it to myself_ ," Alvin snorted, rolling his eyes.

Ignoring him, I flipped on my flashlight. The beam of light powerfully illuminated any object I pointed at, seemingly from an endless distance. I shone it on the door, which partially reflected it back at us.

Without waiting for me, Alvin walked up to the door and knocked on it twice. Piles of dust rained down off of the door and covered Alvin where he stood, but other than that nothing happened. Alvin shook his head to get the filth off his helmet, and looked up. The door was coated with the traditional "NASA" logo.

To our right was a numbered keypad, obviously there to enter a password.

"It's too high up for us," I grumbled.

" _No such thing_ ," Alvin said, confidently walking underneath the pad.

Before I could say "don't do it," Alvin bended his knees and took a big jump, barely managing to grab onto the top of the pad and hang there.

"We don't know the password," I said, rolling my eyes.

Alvin looked at the pad carefully. " _You can tell which numbers are used, they're less dusty,_ " he said. " _Looks like 1… 3… 7… and 8!"_

"You'll still never guess the combo," I snickered.

Alvin, ignoring me, typed four digits into the pad. To my surprise, the light over us turned green and the door began to slide open. Alvin hopped down less-than-graciously and turned around to still see my eyes wide. " _17-38_ ," he said matter-of-factly. " _Figured whoever ran this place had to have had a sense of humor, or at least been a Fetty Wap fan._ "

I shook my head in disgust of his luck and instead turned and shone my light into the now-open doorway. The room was massive, bigger than our ship by itself. Inside, as my flashlight revealed, sat at least four rovers side-by-side.

" _It's a garage_ ," Alvin said in disbelief.

But these rovers were different. They were beefed up with extra-thick armor. They had front bumpers shaped as plows. They had spikes sticking out of them from all angles and turret guns on either side. Each one had at least one bunker on its flat top with a turret.

"These guys were packing," I said, shaking my head. "Jeanette, you still seeing all this?"

" _Yeah, I'm still with you guys_ ," she managed to say through her obvious amazement.

Alvin and I walked in. I flashed my light all around as we walked, but we still could find no signs of life. We could see a hatch on the other end that presumably led into the main building. I went ahead of Alvin, who still had picked up no movement on his tracker. I was moving with haste towards the hatch, but Jeanette's voice stopped me.

" _Simon, go back! Go back! I think one of the doors to the rover was open._ "

I hadn't even noticed I was in such a hurry. I wasn't expecting much, so I nonchalantly turned around and directed my light in the direction of the rover to our left. The blood curdling screams of Alvin and I could have been heard for miles. For lying in the doorway, disfigured and mangled, was a fleshless human skeleton. All that remained of him was the handgun that he clutched in his right hand until his dying moment.

 **AND that was chapter 8. Really, truly hope you guys are enjoying this story! I know I enjoy writing it!**

 **If you liked this chapter and you're getting into the story, PLEASE take the time to let me know in a review. Those reviews are what keeps this story going. Also, if you haven't already, make sure to give it the fav/follow so you can get the alert whenever I update!**

 **And, as always, if you have some concerns/questions/advice, I'd love to hear that too. I am always open to ANY comments you guys give me, as long as its constructive.**

 **Next chapter will be dropping soon so stay tuned!**


	9. Remnants of the Omortson Mission

**I'm not gonna say much, except that I think you guys will really enjoy this chapter. Hopefully, I'm right.**

 **Chapter 9: Remnants of the Omortson Mission**

 _Alvin's POV_

Simon dropped the flashlight on the floor from shock. I backed up, holding my motion tracker up in front of me in the direction of the lifeless pile of bones. "I'm still not reading anything," I called into the darkness, which echoed in the massiveness of the garage we were standing on.

Calming himself down, Simon picked his light back up and shone it back into the opening in the side of the rover. "Oh God," he whispered.

The fingers of the skeleton still clutched the handgun as if it would save him. His eye sockets seemed to be gazing right at me.

" _What in hell could have happened_?" Jeanette's voice squeaked over the radio.

"I dunno," I said, shuddering.

" _Perhaps a mutiny_ ," Simon suggested, moving slowly towards the lifeless skeleton.

" _But if that's the case_ ," Jeanette said, " _then where's the last man standing? There had to have been one._ "

I hopped onto the steps and through the opening on the side of the rover, making sure to avoid the bones. Simon followed close behind me. As soon as we were in the belly of the vehicle, Simon shone the light back down on the poor bastard's remains.

" _Looks like he's been here a while_ ," Simon commented. " _At least a year or two, I'd say_."

My eyes automatically followed the light, as my brother turned around to illuminate other parts of the rover. I'm pretty sure my heart jumped into my throat at what we saw next. The whole floor of the rover, including the cockpit, was littered with even more skeletons. All of them were mangled, disfigured, bent in weird shapes. And all of them were armed to the teeth.

Simon shone the light on all twenty or so of them at least twice, as if to double check that they were dead. One thing was for sure, which was that they all died fighting. The inside of the rover was decorated with weird scratch marks and torn up seat cushions.

I checked my motion tracker. "No life," I said.

Instead of answering me, Simon walked around some of the remains and studied them as if searching for something.

" _You guys should move on and check inside the building_ ," Jeanette said.

"Yeah right," I scoffed. "I've seen enough of this place. You can count me out."

" _You just said so yourself, there's no life around,_ " Jeanette retorted.

"Oh yeah, sure. That's easy for you to say back on the ship, Jeannie."

Simon butted in, defending his girl. " _Look, if we don't get to the bottom of why these guys were here, then there really wasn't even a point of us coming here in the first place._ "

"Fine by me," I snorted. "I say we dip out and never come back again."

He looked at me slyly. " _Oh, I'm sorry, I'm trying to reach Alvin Seville. Ya know? The brave one. Have you seen him around._ "

"You're one corny son of a bitch, Simon," I said, rolling my eyes. "Fine, we'll keep going. But I'm just tagging along to protect you."

My little brother chuckled. " _Of course_."

Simon led us out through the open hatch door and down the steps to the floor of the garage. As we made our way towards the door at the other end, I was checking my motion sensor religiously. One small reading (that wasn't Simon), and I was secretly ready to bail.

Opening the door was as easy as jumping and hanging off of the handle until it swung gently ajar. Well, at least it was easy for me. Simon was the one who actually had to do it. I crawled inside, which was not easy to force myself to do with no light, held it open for him, and then closed it behind him.

Simon looked around. We were in a depressurization chamber, a room that was designed to convert the air from that of Mars to give it oxygen and make it breathable. Suddenly, the chamber began to hiss as it filled with fog. This was nothing new to us, of course. We were just surprised that it was working.

When the fog finally lifted, Simon said, " _Check the conditions_."

I did and reported, "oxygen and humidity levels normal, but temperature's just above zero fahrenheit."

" _Well you're welcome to take your helmet off, if you wish_ ," Simon chuckled.

"Pass," I said, approaching the other end of the chamber. "Come on, let's get this over with."

Using the same methods as before, we exited the chamber and entered a long dark hallway with tall lockers lined up all the way down on both walls. Each of the green lockers had a first initial and a last name on them. Some of them were wide open, some of them just a crack.

Out of curiosity, I picked the partially opened locker of a "T. Vasquez" and opened it fully.

" _Alvin, what are you doing?_ " Jeanette scolded me.

Noticing right away that this locker belonged to a woman, I joked, "I don't think she'll mind too much if I take a look."

" _You're so messed up_ ," she said in disgust.

Vasquez turned out to be a Mrs. with two daughters, which I learned from the picture she kept on a shelf next to a loaded handgun. An assault rifle hung from a hook, over a pile of letters. I picked up the top one and read it. It was a typed and printed message from her husband, received on the date of January of last year. It talked about how he was glad that the mission in Afghanistan was going smoothly, and that he and the kids were going to be happy to see her in a couple weeks.

 _A couple weeks._ And by the looks of things, she had never made it home.

" _All of these lockers have guns in them,_ " Simon noted.

"Were these people… soldiers?" I asked.

" _Look_!" Simon said.

I turned to look in the direction he was pointing his flashlight. Above the hatch to the depressurization chamber from which we came, was a motto written with sticker letters that read, "ARMY CADETS ARE LUCKY… TO HOLD MARINES' JOCK STRAPS".

And at that moment all three of us knew. These things had belonged to Marines. And something had taken them out.

Simon began to walk on, meaning I had to follow him. Just as Simon rounded the corner past the hallway, my motion tracker picked up two signals only about 25 yards away from him. " _Woah_!" Simon gasped, diving for cover back in the hallway.

I was ready to run, but Simon got ahold of himself and took a peek back around the corner. He eased up and came out from hiding, standing tall in the middle of the intersection. Out of vague curiosity, I joined him to see what he was looking at.

Two automatic sentry machine guns locked onto me the second I popped out from around the corner and followed me until I stood right next to Simon, where they stayed aiming directly at us menacingly.

" _They're out of bullets_ ," Simon said. " _Otherwise we'd be dead already._ "

"How are they still going?" I said, locked in a staring contest with the guns.

Simon shrugged. " _Solar power, I'd assume._ _Come on, let's move on._ "

I followed Simon cautiously as he walked in the direction of the sentry guns. He was confident, I was not. Those guns remained locked onto us until we had passed them at which point they turned back the way we had come.

As we walked, Simon in front with the flashlight and me tagging behind him with the motion tracker, we came across another human skeleton. But this one was in several pieces and certain bones were cracked. The hand had been ripped clean off, and there were several holes in its skull. The area around the remains were burnt, with shreds of shrapnel stuck in the floor, walls and ceiling.

We rounded another corner, only to be startled by a second pair of sentry guns which activated and locked onto our heat signal the second we came within range. To our relief, they too were out of bullets.

" _These sentry guns hold a lot of bullets_ ," Jeannie said. " _Imagine what it took in order for them to run out._ "

We chose to ignore her as we walked past the intimidating machine guns just as we had gone past the last pair. But it wasn't long before we had to come to a stop.

Just ahead of us was a massive blockade, made from welded chairs, tables, polls, and a bunch of of random metal objects. It was at least a couple yards thick and stretched almost all the way to the ceiling, just barely leaving the sign above what was probably a doorway unblocked. It read, "Control Room".

Simon shined his light up and down the makeshift blockade, which reflected much of that light and illuminated random fragments of the hallway. We found a small opening up near the top of the blockade, not big enough for any human to fit through but just wide enough so that Simon and I could crawl through one at a time.

My brother and I exchanged glances, in which apparently we decided that we were gonna try to see what was on the other side.

" _Jeanette, we're going in_ ," Simon said as he began to climb.

" _Be careful_ ," she said in a worried tone. " _Both of you_."

"I appreciate the concern, Jeannie," I said as I began to climb up after my younger brother.

It wasn't that hard a climb, as there were plenty of miscellaneous piece of metal for us to grab onto and pull ourselves up. In no time we were both near the top, peering nervously through the strange hole that existed in the middle of this heavy duty blockade. Simon used the flashlight to try to see where it led. The other side was still black, but you could see that the tunnel was carved through this blockade in a rush, judging by the jagged points of metal sticking out from everywhere.

This time, I volunteered to go first. With my tracker still in hand, it was all I could do to make it through this dangerous tunnel without tearing even the smallest hole in my Mars suit. Simon did his best to light up the path ahead of me as he followed. I was panting heavily as we neared the end of the tunnel, as holding myself away from the deadly points coming from all directions was very exhausting.

I finally made it through, followed not too shortly by Simon. "You good?" I asked him.

" _Yeah,_ " he replied graciously as I helped him out.

After adjusting himself, Simon flashed the beam down at the floor below us.

More dead skeletons were literally piled up, at least a couple feet high. It was a big room, with a large glass table at the center and several screens all around, both on the walls and on desks. Most of those screens were now either completely destroyed or at least cracked.

We climbed down with relative ease, having no choice but to step on human bones with a sickening crunch once we had reached the floor. The room had one way in and out, which was effectively blocked by the huge wall of welded chairs and tables.

" _My God,_ " Simon sighed in horror. " _This was damn-near genocide_!"

We tried to walk over, across, and through this ocean of bones as quietly as possible, searching for any more clues.

As I strutted along, I was thinking back to what Megs told me before takeoff. I was beginning to realize that it wasn't Simon or any of the others that I was supposed to watch out for, but possibly something much more deadly.

Eventually, we made it atop the large dusty glass table. We took one more good look around what used to be the "Control Room" but what was now a giant tomb. We were surrounded by death.

" _The attack must have started in or near the rover garage_ ," Simon said. " _They probably fended it off out there for a good while, giving the rest of the Marines a chance to set up the sentry guns and weld together that barricade. This was their last stand._ "

" _Last stand against what_?" Jeanette asked.

I dusted off part of the table, only to realize that the table was actually a big screen. As I jumped in surprise, the screen suddenly lit up. It was a giant version of the _Caesar_ 's Motherboard. The screen read "OMORTSON MISSION SYSTEMS", with "Solar Power 23%" at the bottom right corner.

There was no keyboard, so I tried speaking, "give me a system update!"

" _Understood._ " It said back to me. Statistics began appearing on the screen in a list as the computer read them allowed to us: " _Sentry ammunition depleted, light and camera systems shut down in emergency attempt to conserve power, remaining Marines: 0._ "

" _Show the most recently saved surveillance feed_ ," Simon said.

The screen suddenly turned into a grainy video playback, much like what we had back on the ship. We could see men and women in suits and in uniforms, dashing about like mad, arming up in different rooms and screaming at each other. Then we turned to the camera inside this room, which showed a tall man who looked like an officer standing at the very table we stood on at that moment. He said something, and then the whole room suddenly went dark as the lights turned off, and then the whole screen went black. Only the words "Video playback ended" appeared at the center of the computer.

"What is the Omortson Mission directive?" I asked.

" _To seek out and destroy any and all life forms on Mars._ "

Neither Simon nor I said anything, as we needed to let all of this sink in. Suddenly, a small, quick _beep_ sound arose from my tracker. I looked down at the motion detector and my eyes widened. "Simon, we've got movement," I said nervously.

" _Where_?" he gasped.

I turned in the direction the dots at the edge of my screen were at, like a compass, and pointed at the wall in that direction.

" _But that's outside the building_ ," Simon said.

"It's a real faint signal," I said. "It's not very close. But it's reading right man, look!"

Simon peered at my tracker suspiciously. " _It looks like… they're just moving in place?_ "

There were several small dots that had appeared at the edge of my tracker, but none of them seemed to be going anywhere. "What do we do?" I asked my captain.

" _I dunno. They could be survivors. First things first, we need to get out of here,_ " he responded, hopping down from the table and landing on a human rib cage with a loud crunch.

"That's the first smart thing you've said today, Si," I snarked, following his lead.

 _Theodore's POV_

I typed in the code and entered the cockpit, prompting a jump and a gasp from Jeanette. "Oh God, Theo! It's just you," she sighed.

I eyed her suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing," she said chuckling nervously. "How's Brittany doing?"

I shrugged. "She seems to be better. She's resting now. Ellie's trying to figure out what happened to her."

"Well, that's great to here," she said.

I stepped closer to the Motherboard screen, where I could see the live feed of both Alvin's and Simon's helmet cameras. "Holy Hell," I said with wide eyes. "What happened there?"

"To be perfectly honest, Theodore, we still don't quite know."

I was way too confused to let that slip as an explanation. "What'd they find."

She sighed and sat back down. "It's gonna take a while to explain, but I'll do the best I can."

 _Simon's POV_

We made it all the way back through the garage and back to our beloved rover with relative ease and speed. As we stepped into our little rover, which was refreshingly the perfect size for us, we allowed it to depressurize the air around us. But I stopped Alvin before he could take his helmet off. "No!" I scolded him.

" _What's your problem_ ," he growled.

"We're going to go find out what's making that movement signal," I said.

He rolled his eyes at me. " _You're insane._ "

"Just get in there and start up the rover."

He did as I told him, neither of us bothering to buckle in. The signal on the motion tracker was coming from the opposite side of the Omortson HQ as where we had parked. Alvin begrudgingly rolled the rover forward and hugged the walls of the giant building. Without even putting his foot on the gas pedal, Alvin steered us all the way around to the far side of the haunted building we had just explored.

The signal on the detector was getting slightly stronger, but it still hadn't gone anywhere.

Alvin broke us away from the walls and began navigating us through a field of giant solar panels that had gone unattended for so long that they were now completely covered in Mars dust. He carefully swerved and weaved around each solar panel that was in our path, as the beeping coming from the tracker was getting stronger.

We finally cleared the abandoned solar field, but we could see nothing ahead of us except for a fast approaching red mountain. I checked the motion tracker in confusion and came to a realization. "The signal is coming from… inside that mountain," I said in amazement.

" _That's impossible_!" Alvin scolded, keeping his eyes ahead of us.

Alvin slowed us to a stop and parked and shut off the engine just at the foot of the giant rock. As we exited the rover, I marvelled at just how massive it was compared to us. You could see the hues of red beginning to glow in the sky, as the sun was beginning to rise.

I brought the flashlight with me as I approached the foot of the mountain, with Alvin walking behind me staring down at the motion detector. " _This can't be… what could be moving inside of a mountain_?"

I reached the point where the red rock met the dusty ground, except, to my shock, it didn't! At the foot of the mountain, there was a ditch that was just wide enough for a chipmunk of our size to crawl through. But the rock didn't go all the way to the bottom of the ditch. It instead looked like it had been carved out or dug through, leaving an opening several meters long through this whole ditch. "Looks like there may be more inside this mountain than we thought, Alvin," I said as I rolled into the ditch.

I crawled underneath the wall of red rock, which was only about a foot or two thick, and stood up on the other end. I was inside the mountain, where besides the small amount of light that seeped through the ditch, it was almost completely pitch black.

As Alvin rolled in behind me, I could hear static coming through our feed. "Jeanette? Are you getting all of this?" No reply came except static, as Alvin rose to his feet beside me and brushed the dirt off of his suit. "Jeanette?"

 _Jeanette's POV_

"What the hell?" I muttered.

Static. There was nothing on the motherboard screen except static. There was nothing coming through the headset except static.

"Simon?" I tried to reach my lover. "Are you still with me? Simon?"

"Must be getting some interference," Theodore suggested.

Obviously, but from what? I tried again, "Simon? Alvin? If anyone can hear me, sound off."

 _Simon's POV_

Nothing. No answer. Just static.

" _Must be getting some interference_ ," Alvin said. He then checked the motion tracker, and his voice turned to a whisper. " _Simon, the movement is all around us_ ,"

I froze, as we had not heard a single noise coming from anywhere except each other. I finally got up the courage to turn on my flashlight, and shine it over the ditch which was only about waist-high. My older brother and I peered cautiously over the edge to see what we could see.

The whole place was engulfed in a hazy green fog. It was a cave about ten feet high, and a square footage of about three hundred.

We didn't see anything moving. All we did see was a cave floor that was littered with several dozen small, green-glowing rocks. " _Are those… eggs_?" Alvin whispered.

I pulled myself out of the ditch, with Alvin following my lead, and shined my beam of light down on the nearest rock. It looked gooey, made of gelatin, and partially see-through. Inside we could see the unmistakable light squirming of some type of strange embryo. One thing was for sure: it was an egg, and it wasn't human.

My scientific instincts kicked in immediately as my mind began racing.

"Alvin, take note of the conditions inside of this cave," I commanded, looking around to make sure there was nothing else about.

" _Why_?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"Just do it," I barked.

He rolled his eyes. " _Fine_." He looked down at the motion tracker. " _Oxygen levels 0.9 percent, 99% humidity, temperature 70 degrees fahrenheit._ "

"Excellent," I said, picking up the nearest egg. "Let's both try to remember that."

He looked at me with wide eyes, knowing exactly what I was up to. " _Woah, woah, woah! Are you crazy, Si_?"

I walked past him towards the ditch, carefully cradling the egg in my arms. "This is the only Martian life-form ever recorded in Earth's history," I explained to him. "This is the opportunity that probably no one else will get for decades! I can't just pass it up."

" _What if its mother misses it_?" Alvin protested.

I rolled my eyes. "This cave has almost a hundred eggs. She'll probably never even notice it's gone. Now come on! We gotta get this thing back to the ship!"

 **Hmm. Well, first things first, I want to apologize for the fact that Alvin's POV took up most of that chapter. I know a lot of you guys like it better when I jump from chipmunk to chipmunk frequently.**

 **Hopefully, if you're reading this now, it means you didn't mind that so much and read all the way through. For that, I thank you.**

 **I want to remind you guys as always to please leave a review and let me know exactly what you thought. And that includes praise OR constructive criticism. Ideally a review for me contains both.**

 **Once again, you guys are all awesome and your support means the world! Next chapter will get posted soon! Till then, PEACE!**


	10. For the Greater Good

**Everyone left awesome and very detailed reviews and it honestly made me so happy to read. The fact that you guys have such interesting and unpredictable ideas for this story, and the fact that you like it enough to give me so much advice is like fuel that keeps this story coming out at a decent pace.**

 **So keep it up is all I ask ;)**

 **Side note: sorry I took so long for this chapter. Computer was busted and still kind of is.**

 **Chapter 10: For the Greater Good**

 _Eleanor's POV_

Brittany sat on the medical bed with her back and head propped up on the wall behind her, with only a small pillow providing cushion for her lower back.

I stood at the other end of the bed, studying her closely.

She lifted the cup bottoms-up into her mouth and pretended to take the final sip of water, even though she had drank the last of it several minutes ago. "I told you I'm fine, Ellie," she insisted again.

"This is just so unusual," I said, ignoring her. "You never displayed any of these symptoms while we were going through training."

"We had a long journey and I fainted. I'm dehydrated, that's all."

That's the thing, though. She shouldn't have been dehydrated. She had had the same water rations as everyone else. Suddenly, everything made sense to me. Her hunger, her cravings, her nausea, her need for extra water.

"Brit…" I whispered in as comforting a way as I could. "I'm asking you this as a supportive sister." I put my paw softly on her leg and looked her in her eyes. I could see them widen as she probably knew what I was about to ask her. "Did you and Alvin… do anything before we lifted off?"

She chuckled nervously. "Do anything? What do you mean?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. She looked away to avoid my stare. "Did you guys have sex is what I mean."

She snapped her head right back in my directions. "Ellie, I'm not pregnant," she said bluntly.

"You didn't answer my question," I pressed. "Did you and Alvin have sex?"

She took a deep breath and once again looked the other way, as if trying to comprehend everything. Tears began swelling in her eyes as she said, "it wasn't my proudest moment."

"When?" I gasped.

"After the last day of training," she muttered. "With the double shower tokens."

I covered my mouth with one hand and rested my other hand on her stomach.

"Don't touch me there!" she snapped, swiping my hand off of her. "I told you, I'm not pregnant!"

"How can you be so sure?" I questioned her, getting annoyed with her denial.

"B-b…" she stuttered. "We were careful."

"Careful?" I scoffed in disbelief. "How could you even say that? You had _sex_ right before our mission!"

Tears began to flow down her eyes. "I wasn't trying to hurt anyone, I swear it."

"Well, I don't have any pregnancy tests on board. But if I did, and you tested positive, then you and I both know what would happen according to protocol."

She avoided my eyes once again, as I could tell that she knew something that I didn't know.

"What is it?" I questioned her.

"Nothing."

I sighed and decided I'd give her space. She needed to really think about everything that was going on.

 _Jeanette's POV_

The screen was still static. The headset still blared annoying static. I worried for their safety, especially Simon's. Who knows what was happening?

Theodore sat with me, determined to stay until we got a signal.

"What do you think they're up to?" he asked me.

I sighed. "Hopefully driving back."

"True," he said, nodding. "I'm sure they're fine."

I stared out the cockpit windshield, desperately hoping to see the rover casually rolling back towards the ship. "These things always work out," I said, if no other reason to assure myself.

Suddenly, I could see dust being kicked up on the horizon. A muffled, high pitched voice managed to escape through the static in the headset. The rover poked its nose up over a hill in the distance.

"Simon?" I said emphatically. "Do you read me?" No answer. "Simon? Alvin?"

" _Jeanette?_ " I could just barely make out as Simon's voice.

"Yes! It's me!"

" _Jeanette_!" This was Alvin's excited voice. " _God damn am I happy to hear you voice_!"

"I can only imagine," I chuckled. "What happened? What did you guys find."

" _Nothing really,_ " Simon said. " _No survivors._ "

The camera feed inside the rover was starting to come back into focus as the rover got closer in a hurry. "What was the movement that Alvin was picking up?" I asked as the vehicle pulled up to the _Caesar._

" _Couldn't confirm_ ," Simon said. " _Could you open the cargo bay ramp please, Jeannie_?"

I was now looking at the crystal clear security video feed coming in from inside the rover. I could see Alvin in the driver's seat with Simon standing behind him, holding onto the chair. But all the way back in the cargo section was a small round object partially hidden by a sheet. I could tell they were purposely covering something in so I zoomed in closer. What I could see of the object was transparent lime green and eerily smooth.

"What's that under the blanket, Simon?" I asked in a stern tone.

I saw him bite his lip. " _It's nothing. Just a rock that we brought back for experimentation._ "

"That doesn't look like just a rock," I scolded.

" _Just drop the ramp,_ " Simon said.

"You know I can't do that, Simon," I retorted. "NASA code has it written that any possible discovery of alien life must be given a 24 hour quarantine period before it is allowed on board a ship."

" _Jeanette, whatever is in this egg could die in 24 hours if we don't get it inside the environment chamber_." Simon was pleading with me.

"I'm not risking the lives of our family for what you think is an alien egg," I responded.

" _Jeanette let us in right now. That's an order_ ," Simon said impatiently.

"Perhaps you've forgotten, Simon," I said, kind of enjoying my position of power, "but when you're not on board the _Caesar_ it is actually me who is in command."

" _I'm not playing around Jean. This is your last chance to open up the cargo bay before there are repercussions for disobeying orders."_

Sweat was beginning to form all over my body as I didn't say a word, deep in thought.

" _Jeanette? Do you read me_?" Simon repeated.

"Yes," I replied blankly, "I read you. But the answer is no."

I had totally forgot Theodore was in the cockpit, listening to our conversation. So much so that as he leaned over, unlocked the bridge to the cargo bay and pressed the button to begin dropping it, all I did was stare at him in shock. By the time I had snapped out of it and tried to stop him, it was too late. The ramp touched down in front of the rover and Alvin wasted no time gassing the bulky vehicle on board.

I abruptly rose to my feet to look Theo eye to eye. We were within a foot of each others' faces. I glared down at him with contempt for going behind my back, disobeying an acting-captain's orders. He stared up at me with a little bit of fear but obviously assuring himself he had done the right thing. He was trying to come across as confident.

Knowing he'd probably never face consequences for what he did with Simon back in charge, I turned my back to him and stormed off out of the cockpit.

 _Simon's POV_

Alvin quickly parked the rover and shut down the engine. Before we had even come to a complete stop, however, I was rushing to the back of the vehicle to find the egg.

It rested where I had left it and where Jeanette had noticed it, in the back corner covered by a thin sheet. The green glowy slime glowed through to it was still noticeable.

"The cargo bay is depressurizing," Alvin informed me.

"Good," I said. "We're running out of time."

I picked the egg up as best I could with how heavy it was, keeping it covered, and carried it off of the rover with Alvin following closely behind. Without being asked, Alvin pressed the button to open each door for me when necessary.

When we arrived at the hallway leading to the medical room, we saw that Jeanette and Eleanor had beaten us there. Ellie was wiping her hands with a paper towel, nervously looking at Alvin and I. Jeanette stood tall and firm, staring me down from across the hallway.

I approached them and tried to shuffle around them, but Jeanette stubbornly stepped in my way.

"Simon, we have no idea what's inside of that egg," Jeanette pleaded with me.

I ignored her and finally managed to get inside the infirmary, where Brittany was laying down on the bed watching us. "That's precisely why we need to try to hatch it," I said.

Jeanette crossed her arms in frustration and watched, along with the others, as I opened the hatch to the environment chamber, gently placed the egg inside in an upright position, and closed it like a microwave.

I input the conditions from the cave: 99% humidity, 0.9% Oxygen, 70 degrees fahrenheit. The chamber buzzed as it started up, and I watched as the conditions inside changed. All of the others stared intently along with me, until it was finished replicating the environment that I had told it to.

Finally, Alvin broke the silence. "Brit, what happened to ya?"

"Oh," she murmured from her position in her bed. "I… fainted."

Alvin's eyes grew wide. "Are you ok?" he asked in a genuinely concerned voice.

"She's going to be fine," Eleanor answered for her, grabbing Alvin by the arm. "But she should get some rest. Come on, let's give her space."

With that I stood up and followed Ellie, Alvin, and Jeanette out of the infirmary and closed the door behind us. Brittany watched us leave, then gently placed her head on the pillow once the door slid closed.

"Alvin," Eleanor said in a lower voice. "We need to talk."

"What is it?" Alvin said, raising an eyebrow.

Eleanor looked at Brittany through the clear infirmary window and, even though the room was soundproof, seemed to make certain that Brit wasn't paying attention to us. She already seemed to be asleep, so Eleanor continued. "I think Brittany may be pregnant."

Alvin bit his lip in embarrassment, looking around at the pairs of eyes who were staring at him. "W-why do you say that?"

Eleanor shrugged. "She's acted bipolar, had mood swings, cravings, has needed extra food and water rations. And now the nausea. But without a pregnancy test I can't be sure. Simon, Jeanette, could you guys make maybe like a makeshift test?"

"No need," Alvin sighed. "I think, based off of a lot of recent events, that it's time for me to show you guys something. Get Theodore too."

 _Brittany's POV_

My dream began with a woosh that sounded like wind. It was a bright light blur, I couldn't see anything. Suddenly, everything around me began to come into focus. I was alone, in what appeared to be the cockpit. Outside was a deep red sunset over what looked like Mars' horizon.

I unbuckled the chair I was strapped to and looked around. "Hello?" I squeaked out, except my voice sounded hollow and echoey. I stood up and left the cockpit. The ship was completely normal, but I couldn't see or hear anyone.

I walked around cautiously, keeping my eye peeled for anyone. The infirmary was empty. So was the kitchen. Even the engine room and cargo bay. Everything was there that should have been, except for the crew. My family was gone.

Confused, I went back to the kitchen, fetched myself a bottle, and filled it with water. But when I went to take a sip, the water was gone. It had just, vanished. I sighed and set the bottle down on the table, more confused than ever.

Suddenly, I heard a faint high-pitched wailing noise. I stood up, eager to find someone. I walked out of the kitchen, trying to follow the source of the noise. It was definitely some sort of crying, with some blubbering thrown in every once in awhile. As I walked down the hall it got louder and louder, and I finally realized that it sounded like the desperate cry of a baby.

As I got closer, the sound was becoming more ominous and flat, and it echoed through my ears like a siren. I turned the corner into the sleeping quarters, where I could see a small round figure on my assigned bed, bundled in white blankets like a taco. It squirmed as much as it could being strapped onto the bed as it continued to moan and groan and wail.

I looked around. "Hello? Is this someone's baby?"

No one answered my muffled voice.

Hesitantly, I stepped towards the baby. Realization was starting to kick in. Constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't mistaking, I shuffled towards my bed with my hands held tightly to my chest, as if I was afraid the thing would bite.

Once I was at the side of the bed, I looked down. It was completely covered by the blankets, tightly bundled up for its own comfort. Biting my lip from nervousness, I reached my hand over and tugged on the end of the blanket where I was pretty sure its head was at. It unwrapped itself, allowing my to see the back of its head.

It was furry, almost definitely a chipmunk.

Suddenly, it stopped crying and was perfectly still. I held my breath, thinking I might have killed it. But then it slowly began to twist around, turning its head to face me. I saw that it had my eyes but definitely Alvin's fur tone.

We stared at each other for several moments before it opened its mouth. In a muffled, eerily sweet and innocent voice it said, "mama, is that you?"

A lump formed in my throat, and I wasn't able to say anything in response.

"Mama, please help me," it squeaked.

I looked at it in confusion. "Wha…"

"Save me, mama!" It screamed, tears forming in its eyes again. "Why won't you save me!"

Suddenly, the window on the other side of the room shattered. A vacuum of air and oxygen formed, sucking everything loose out the open window. I grabbed onto my bed instinctively and held on tight as I could feel myself being pulled towards the void in the wall. The baby was screaming and wailing as the straps held it in place.

The wind and force were so powerful that I was beginning to lose my grip. One hand slipped. I tried to pull myself back in but it was no use.

And suddenly, I woke up.

My eyes snapped open. My mouth was parched and I was panting heavily. Tears were welling in my eyes at the awful thing my brain had just come up with to show me during my sleep.

I sat myself up and looked around. There was no one directly outside the room, nor in the room. I turned until my feet were dangling off the bed and slid until they touched the cold floor. I walked over towards the cabinets to get myself some water. I had the worst headache I've had this whole voyage.

Suddenly, there was a sharp scratching sound behind me. I startled and turned my whole body around to see where the noise had come from. I couldn't see anything, as my eyes darted from corner to corner.

I peeked to my left, where the environment chamber happened to be. The glass hatch was shattered, with pieces of glass scattered on the floor directly under it. Inside, the green egg was in pieces. It had hatched.

I tried to slow down my breathing, even as my heart rate rose. I still couldn't see whatever had come out of that egg. It must have been hiding somewhere.

Without thinking twice, I sprinted for the door. It only took me like two seconds to slam into it uncontrollably, but it felt like two whole minutes. I pressed the button, but it didn't open. I looked behind me and still didn't see the Martian. Now panicking, I began to mash the button over and over again to no avail. Whoever had closed it behind them must have locked it without thinking.

"Shit," I muttered to myself. I turned my back to the glass door just in time to catch a glimpse of a small reddish-orange blur darting under the bed.

I held my breath with wide eyes. I could hear that thing panting around under there, squirming, making some kind of noise that sounded like a loud rumbling tummy. I wondered if he even knew I was in there or where he was. Probably not.

How was I supposed to get help? The room was soundproof. I wondered if anyone was watching the camera feed up in the cockpit. I slowly stepped towards where a pen was sitting on a counter, trying to not alert whatever was under my bed.

Now came the tricky part. The camera in the room hung from over the doorway, looking directly at the bed. In order to signal someone in the cockpit, that's where I needed to be. As carefully and quietly as possible, I shuffled my feet towards where I could hear that little thing dicking around. As I got closer I debated whether I should just jump onto the bed or get closer and try to climb on silently, but risk him popping his head out of under the bed and biting me or something.

I decided the first idea was better, as I jumped forward and landed as softly as I could on the mattress. The bed itself creaked in response, prompting a hiss-like threat coming from the creature underneath.

I waited to make sure it wasn't charging at me before beginning to scribble the three letters "SOS" as boldly as I could on my pillow. When I was finished I capped the pen and propped up the pillow as perfectly as I could in order for the camera to get as good of a view as possible.

But that wasn't good enough. An idea popped into my head, which was to somehow set off the fire alarm in my room. Holding myself in a ball as I could feel the Martian crawling around underneath me, I noted the smoke detector right above me. I knew some of the medicines in the cabinet were flammable, somehow. I just had to figure out which ones.

 _Alvin's POV_

I twisted the key and pulled the cabinet doors wide open so everyone could see. The looks on their faces spelled complete shock, a lot like mine when I had first opened this thing up. Simon, Theodore, Jeanette, and Eleanor all looked as though they couldn't believe it. The cabinet was still racked to the top with heavy duty chipmunk-sized guns.

I crouched down, untaped the pregnancy test from the bottom of the cabinet, and held it up for Eleanor to see.

"That'll do it," she chuckled nervously.

"When were you planning on telling us about all this?" Simon scolded.

"When it became relevant," I retorted sarcastically. "Megs warned me to use them against a threat before we left… I think I just realized that you guys aren't that threat."

"Look," Jeanette said, butting in, "all that matters now is what we do with these now that we know."

"I'll tell you what," Simon responded. "We lock this cabinet up and make Alvin eat the key!"

"Are you crazy?" Theodore said at his brother in shock.

"Guns have no place in a peaceful NASA mission," Simon said, crossing his arms in his typical snooty way.

"They're here for our protection," I protested, gripping my key tightly.

"They're nothing but trouble," Simon said, shaking his head. "Now I'm giving you an order to lock that cabinet. We'll talk about how to dispose of that key later."

Jeanette put a hand on Simon's shoulder. "No," she said. "Alvin's right."

"Yeah!" Eleanor agreed.

"Since when is this a democracy?" Simon scoffed at us. "Whether you guys like it or not, I am captain of this vessel. And I say we ditch the guns."

Suddenly, the lights in the room turned red and a loud siren blared out through the whole ship. Motherboard's computer voice announced, " _FIRE IN… INFIRMARY_!"

Without any more arguing, we all sprinted out of the bay towards the medical room where Brittany was staying.

The whole ship was lit red, including the hallways, as we charged up the stairs and towards the infirmary. I was leading the way, and I was the first one there. Through the glass window I could see Brittany curled up in a ball on top of the bed as sprinklers rained down on the whole room. She looked excited to see me but barely moved.

Eleanor hustled to unlock and open the door, and I was the first one to run in before it was even all the way open. "Brittany!" I exclaimed. I rushed to where she sat and jumped on the bed with her.

"Shh!" she scolded me.

"What is it?" I said in confusion as the others stood in the doorway, seeing no fire.

Brittany pointed down at the bed, I looked down to see what she meant just when I heard an angry screeching noise.

Then it began to charge. A red, round, bulky, furry creature about a fourth of the size of any of us flew out from underneath the bed and sprinted towards the doorway. The others jumped out of his way with a startle, and he ran right past them without stopping. He turned a corner and kept going the way we came from.

Without wasting time, we all sprinted up to the cockpit to see where our new passenger was headed. As soon as we were inside, Simon jumped into the navigator's seat and began flipping through the camera feeds one by one.

"There!" Jeanette pointed to the screen. Simon came to a stop on the camera in the engine room, where the Martian was walking around on all fours aimlessly. He seemed very confused and distraught.

Simon followed him as he climbed up on top of the circuit board, then on top of one of the motors, and then jumped inside of one of the relatively large pipes close to the ceiling.

"That's the air shaft!" Simon exclaimed. "He's in the air shaft. Jeanette! Lock it up!"

Jeanette wasted no time in flicking each air shaft switch into the "closed" position. On the screen we could see the entrance to the pipe pinch until it was almost shut. There was barely enough of a hole to peep through.

Simon took a deep sigh of relief. "Oh thank God," he said. "It can't last long in there, not with all of that oxygen."

Meanwhile, I turned my attention to Brittany, whose paws were on her knees and who was still panting from the running we had just done. I held the pregnancy test that was still in my hands up to her eye level. "You need to take this," I said. "As soon as possible."

 _Brittany's POV_

Finally alone in the bathroom, I began to cry. I knew the others were just outside waiting for me, and waiting for the test results, but I didn't care. I already felt like I had messed up so much. What if this test came back positive? How was I supposed to take care of a kid? Especially with a father like Alvin. Don't get me wrong, I love him. But neither of us are ready for this.

"I think the three minutes are up now," Eleanor's muffled voice peeped up through the bathroom door.

"Coming!" I said, wiping away my tears.

I walked out of the bathroom with the test in my hands. Everyone stared at me intently. I didn't know what the results were yet, as I couldn't bear to look. Hesitantly, I put one hand over my eyes, and with the other lifted the test high up so everyone could see it.

The results… were…

 **CLIFFHANGER! I know I said I wouldn't do it to ya, but I honestly want my reader's opinion on what I should do hear. Should Brittany be pregnant or not?**

 **Also sorry this took so long. I've been dealing with an illness and a buggy computer.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed this chapter and/or you'd like to leave some constructive criticism for ya boy, a review is ALWAYS welcome as long as it is helpful.**

 **I'll be getting the next chapter to ya'll ASAP! See ya next time!**


	11. Plans Change

**Hey everyone! Thank you all so much for your detailed reviews! I have taken all of your advice into consideration!**

 **Also, to IluvChips4ever, you got your wish! There is an M rated one-shot of what happened between Alvin and Brittany in the shower, which will be published just minutes after this chapter. So if any of you are curious and don't mind the sexual content, check it out!**

 **But before you do that, make sure you read up on this chapter! I think you guys will like it…**

 **Chapter 11: Plans Change**

 _Brittany's POV_

Still covering my eyes, all I could hear were the collective gasps of my family. I lifted a finger just enough to take a peek.

Two pink lines, one only slightly more faded than the other. The test was positive, and I was pregnant.

I felt the eyes of every crew member rest on me, to see how I'd react. I said nothing. I simply covered my mouth from shock, set the test down on the counter next to me, pulled a chair closer to me and sat down.

I stared at the floor for several moments, thinking about all of the ways that my life had just changed. Not all of them for the worst. But a lot of them, I felt.

Alvin finally walked over towards me and wrapped his arms around me in comfort. I acknowledged him simply by grabbing his left forearm with my hand and rubbing it. He planted a kiss on my cheek, and held it there for several seconds.

"Congratulations you two," Simon murmured respectfully.

We looked up at him, smiling thankfully. All of the others nodded.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Eleanor said with a huge smile on her face and a tear in her eye.

"Thanks you guys," Alvin managed so say.

Simon sighed. "Well," he said, "everyone pack up your things. Get ready for takeoff."

"Takeoff?" Alvin said, looking at Simon strangely.

Simon nodded. "We're going home."

"Simon, I'm fine, really!" I assured him. "This isn't going to affect the mission."

Simon ignored me and began washing his hands. "There will be no discussions, just get ready." And with that he headed for the exit to the infirmary.

"Simon, I-"

But I was cut off by Jeanette. "I'll talk to him, you guys stay here."

 _Jeanette's POV_

Simon only seemed to pick up his pace as I began to follow him through the maze of hallways. "Simon!" I called to him, as he only kept walking. I jogged to make up ground and called again, "SIMON!" Still no answer. Finally, I pressed a button which closed the airtight door on the other side of the hallway in Simon's face, forcing him to stop.

"Ugh, Christ!" he shouted in frustration as he finally turned to face me. "What? What is it?"

I stepped closer to him. "Can't we talk about this?"

"There's nothing more to talk about, Jean. I've made up my mind."

"But why? Why do we have to just give up all of that hard work, training and money just because of this?"

He took a deep breath and finally gave me a look like he was opening up to me. "Look it's not just Brit's pregnancy. It's everything. It's everything that NASA never told us about. It's the guns in the cabinet. It's the giant war station just a few miles away that didn't even have any survivors. It's the ugly little turd that crawled into our air shaft."

"Well look," I tried to reason with him, "even if we wanted to take off I'm not sure we could."

"Why not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I haven't finished all of the repairs-"

"Like what?" he interrupted impatiently.

I was a little caught off-guard. "Well... for instance we're still blind on the B and C decks… the spotlight on one of the landing legs is still busted-"

"No no no," he interrupted me again, "that's a bunch of bull shit! We can take off without all that." He turned his back to me and pressed the button to open the door that I had stopped him with.

"I mean yeah we _could_ ," I said, getting frustrated. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

He turned to face me just long enough to say, "look I just wanna get the hell out of here," before walking off again. "And make sure everyone's ready to go ASAP!"

I clenched my fists. He never listened to me. Never. I desperately wanted a punching bag or something to take my frustrations out on.

 _Theodore's POV_

I knew it wasn't likely that Jeanette convince Simon that he was wrong. That almost never worked for any of us.

So, I was taking final inventory in the kitchen. Which was maybe a little pointless seeing as though we were leaving way ahead of schedule, but it gave me a chance to be by myself. That is, until Jeanette found me.

She walked into the kitchen without announcing herself. In fact, she didn't make a sound. So when she suddenly walked beside me while I was counting the packages of powdered eggs, I gasped and jumped. "Oh, it's you," I said in relief. "What's up, Jean?"

"Nothing," she said, shrugging. "Quite a day, huh?"

I nodded, wiping the sweat off my forehead from being startled. "Quite a day," I repeated.

"Do you know if that thing is still Alive?" Jeannie asked, as if I'd know. "In the vents?"

"That's what I heard," I said, being as helpful as I could. "I thought I heard the little bugger scratching around in there a little while ago but I couldn't be sure."

"Strange," she said casually. "How could it be alive still, without Martian air?"

I shook my head. "You're asking the wrong guy. To be perfectly honest, I don't think anyone knows exactly what that thing is capable of." I began to go back to counting, hoping she'd go away.

But suddenly, her tone went from casual to maliced and passive-aggressive. "And you're the one who let him on board," she said, smiling at me with anger in her eyes.

I sighed. "I guess you could say that."

"Theodore," she said, lowering her voice. "When Simon isn't on board, I'm commanding officer of the _Caesar_."

"Oh… right," I said shrugging passively. "I must have forgotten. Sorry."

That wasn't good enough for her. "Then you must have also forgotten NASA's quarantine laws."

"No, that I didn't forget," I admitted, knowing Jeanette wasn't going to just give this up.

"Oh," she said, "so you just chose to ignore them, then?"

"Look," I said, turning to face her, "what would you have done in my shoes? Just let them sit out there?"

"You really don't get it," she murmured in frustration. "This may come as a shock to you, Theo, but this whole operation is bigger than your personal feelings. If we don't have order, we don't have anything."

"Right," I said, getting annoyed. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

That seemed to be good enough, as she left my sight in disgust. But just before she rounded the corner of the kitchen door, she called, "I've got my eye on you, Theodore. Don't go behind my back again."

I rolled my eyes without looking at her or even acknowledging her. _It's a good thing you're not the captain anymore_ , I thought to myself.

 _Simon's POV_

The whole crew was assembled in the cockpit. The rations were all accounted for. The ship was primed and ready for takeoff, despite everyone's protests. I knew in my heart that I was doing what was right.

"Is everyone strapped in?" I called back behind me.

"Yes," Eleanor responded, apparently speaking for everyone.

"Brittany, inform NASA that we'll be making an early return," I said.

Brittany nodded and began to type into Motherboard unenthusiastically. I could tell she blamed herself for this, even though it wasn't all her fault.

I took a deep breath. There was a part of me that was extremely disappointed at the wasted opportunity of leaving the planet Mars early. But I wasn't going to risk the life or health of my brother's kid just for a mission. Without any more hesitation, I began the launch combinations.

The ship began to rumble and vibrate as the engines began to hum to life. As the motors broke themselves in, I leaned back in my seat, suddenly anxious to be home. As soon as the ship was ready, I fired the boosters.

The ship slowly began to lift off of the dusty red Martian ground. It slowly gained altitude, and I only wish I could have sped it up to get it over with. But just as I was about to lift the _Caesar_ 's nose towards the sky, Brittany piped up saying, "Simon, there's movement on the ground!"

"Movement?" I called back to her in confusion. "What kind of movement?"

"Like, something's moving down there!"

I rolled my eyes and put the ship in "hover mode" before spinning around in my chair to see what she was looking at on the motherboard screen. Everyone watched intently, squinting to see what Brit was talking about. The screen was on a feed from an outside camera, pointed towards the surface of the planet.

Suddenly, there it was. It was a pack of about ten or so dirty brown and red creatures, furry and crawling and scrambling around on the ground underneath and a bit to the side of us. We were pretty high up, so I felt safe in hovering above them and observing them for a bit.

But then two of them stood on their hind legs, crouching down and facing each other. We watched in confusion as one of the beasts seemed to step up onto their outstretched paws. By the time we realized what they were doing, it was too late. The two aliens at the base launched their buddy into the air, hurtling directly towards the _Caesar._ I only had time to spin around in my seat to attempt an evasive maneuver, before a great big thud rocked the ship.

Everyone began to panick. "Where is it?" Eleanor screamed.

Brittany frantically began to flip through the outside camera feeds. "Found it!" she exclaimed.

I turned around to see.

"That's the fuel tank!" Jeanette gasped.

The disgusting furry beast was using its long, razor-sharp claws to climb up the vertical cylinder-shaped fuel tank. Every spot its claws would pierce the tank, a small hole would be poked and a solid stream of rocket fuel would begin to pour out.

"Goddammit," I muttered, watching this thing ravage our ship merely by being attached to it. It looked not much bigger than us, but still terrifying.

The creature stopped climbing when it finally came across the long flexible pipe that was attached to the top of the tank. Every single one of us knew fully well that that pipe led directly to the engines that were currently keeping us above ground.

The alien sniffed the pipe curiously for a few moments, before suddenly grabbing it with one hand.

"No, no, no no!" Alvin begged out loud, as if that thing could hear him through the screen.

We watched as that beast took a flexible aluminum pipe that had been welded to its home on our fuel tank so well that it had survived deep space, and effortlessly ripped it out of its socket.

Gas began to spurt out everywhere out there, coming from both the hose-like pipe and the tank itself erupting like a volcano. The beast was suddenly getting drenched in rocket fuel, especially its face. It let go of the pipe in shock and disgust, attempting to wipe the stuff off of its eyelids with its hands. It let out a loud noise that was like a mix between a screech and a hiss as it lost its footing fell over the edge of the tank, presumably falling all the way to the surface of the red planet.

I knew it was only a matter of time before the engines would give out, so I took action and began the landing procedures. But it was too late.

Just as the landing legs had begun to stretch out, the first engine died. I jerked the stick in the opposite direction, but that actually proved to be an overreaction. The whole ship leaned heavily to one side just as the rest of the engines gave in!

The whole crew screamed as the whole ship began a free fall towards the ground. There was nothing I could do, and that was the scariest thing. The tingling sensation only added to the feeling of helplessness.

The _Caesar_ hit the dusty surface first by just one of its landing legs, snapping it instantly, then colliding violently with an ear-piercing crunch with something that kept us partially upright. Our heads snapped every which way imaginable as we crash landed.

Sirens began to ring out through the whole ship instantly. Although we were all recovering from the shock of the hit, I knew we had to act fast. "Brittany, close all airtight doors!"

Brittany looked ready to throw up again, but she held it in long enough to press the emergency button that sealed off and isolated all oxygen losses. But the sirens still didn't stop until I shut them off manually.

"Jeanette, give me a damage report, stat!" I barked.

She looked at me in confusion with wide eyes, and then as if she just remembered where she was she began to search her station for alerts.

I looked out the cockpit window. To our left, the side we were slightly leaning on, I could definitely see some sort of tall red cliff. We were at about a 30 degree angle, very fortunate that that crash had not been worse.

"It's unable to give me a reading on how much fuel we've lost," Jeanette said. "Landing leg number 3 is toast. There's a ton of hull breaches on that side of the ship, but they've all been contained…" she trailed off. "Can't really give you any more specifics right now. It's a bunch of busted cameras and stuff."

I nodded, knowing how grim the situation was. "Alvin and Jeanette with me," I suddenly said, unbuckling myself and standing as well as I could with the tilt of the floor.

Suddenly, we felt a thud come from outside. We all gasped, clenching the nearest solid object tensely. We felt heavy, scratchy footsteps above us. We heard a menacing hiss. Then, out of nowhere, one of those creatures jumped from the roof above our heads onto the nose of the ship in front of us, just outside the window.

This one was at least twice as big as us, and I so feared the damage it could do to us or our ship. It turned around to face us, and we could see it was carrying a newborn alien in its mouth, not much bigger than the one we had trapped in our vent system.

The giant beast strutted forward towards the window with great confidence, eyeing us down threateningly. I legitimately wondered if this was the end, as it could smash that glass easily if it wanted to.

Instead, it stared at us with what looked like hatred in its eyes. Finally, it pointed to the confused cub in its mouth with one claw. Without waiting from a response from us, it looked up towards the sky and pointed directly at the sun. It then turned its attention back to us with another hateful glare and simply held up one of its sharp claws for us to see.

I got the message clearly. It wanted its baby back. And we had one day to have it ready to be returned to her.

As if wanting to make absolutely sure that this was a life or death deal for us, she took that one claw that she was holding up and pressed it against the window. As we all held our breaths, she began to let it slide casually down, leaving a clear scratch mark as it went, until her paw rested on the _Caesar_ 's nose once again.

And with that, she turned and jumped off our nose, away from us and out of our site. Her hopping off of the ship entirely caused the whole thing to rock and creek, and left the rest of us speechless.

 _Alvin's POV_

"We need to check the damage to the ship," Simon insisted as we threw on our Mars suits in a hurry. "We need to see with our own eyes… and pray that the damage is repairable."

I wanted to wait at least a little while until we were sure that that squad of aliens had left us alone, but Simon was probably right that the damage was too urgent.

Brittany had stayed in the cockpit, as usual, watching us on the camera feeds and listening to our conversations through the headset.

"How's the view from in their, Brit?" I said, having finally gotten the whole suit on. "Can you hear us ok?"

" _No, Alvin, I can't hear you,_ " she snapped back sarcastically.

" _Now's not time, you two_ ," Jeanette interrupted.

Simon was the last one to get his suit all the way on. " _Let's hurry this up._ "

Simon led the way, followed by Jean, and trailed by me, down the ladder to the hatches that led out to Mars' surface. That ladder was made even more difficult by the fact that it was almost upside down with the angle the ship was resting. It made me think back to when I had fallen on my ass as the first Earthling to ever touch real Martian soil.

We exited through the hole on the bottom of the ship one by one, neither of us falling on our asses. The first thing that caught our eye was that although two of the landing legs seemed to be intact, the one we had landed on first had been completely crushed and looked to be in multiple pieces scattered across the desert. Instead, the corner of the ship had propped itself on the giant red cliff that had probably saved our lives.

We walked out of the shade of the ship to get a better look.

" _You still getting all this, Brit_?" Jeanette spoke into her headset.

" _Yeah, I see it_."

" _So far, it looks like we might be able to throw something together and still get out of here_ ," Simon observed out loud.

But then we got the big picture. A whole side of the _Caesar_ had completely collapsed from the impact of the crash landing. The entire fuel tank had been crunched and its contents had spilled everywhere. And all three of us, as well as the three in the cockpit who were watching, knew deep down that the _Caesar_ was never going to leave the planet Mars.

 _Eleanor's POV_

As instructed, I had placed a cup of water in front of every single member of our family, including the spot where I would sit. Simon waited for me to take my seat, before shocking all of us by taking out his cyanide pill and dropping it into his water cup. The water sizzled as the pill dissolved with a bubbly reaction until it had disappeared, only making the water slightly murky.

We all gasped. "No…" I squeaked out through a broken voice. "This can't be it. This can't be the end."

Simon sighed. "I'm afraid we don't have a choice," he said solemnly.

"There needs to be another way," Brittany spoke up.

"This ship isn't repairable," Jeanette spoke up, agreeing with Simon. "Not with the means that we have. And there are no ships on Earth that have been built to make it this far to rescue us. We're just waiting around to starve to death."

"And that's assuming those Martians randomly decide to leave us alone," Simon added to the hopeless mood.

Jeanette sighed. "Right," she said as she also pulled out her suicide pill and dropped it into her water.

"Alvin," Theodore murmured, turning to his older brother, "help us out here. Tell them they're overreacting."

Alvin stared at him for a few moments as if he wasn't sure what to say.

Tears began to swell up in Theo's eyes. "Tell me it's going to be ok."

Alvin looked at the floor, then reluctantly pulled out his pill. "I'm sorry, Theo," he whispered in a cracked and mournful voice. "This isn't one of those times where everything just turns out ok. Not everything in life can be like that. And I see that now." And with that, he dropped his cyanide pill into the water, watching it dissolve with dread.

And that seemed to be the moment where it became real for the rest of us. At least for me. So many emotions ran through my body as the three of us followed our brothers and sister. Regret, sorrow, anger, fear of death.

"I can't believe I'm going to be ending my life…" Brittany began, just before she burst into an uncontrollable sob. "Just… just before I was going to be a mother."

Alvin's eyes also began to tear up, as did everyone else's. Alvin grabbed the paw of his counterpart lovingly and supportively. "You would've been the greatest mother in the world," Alvin said. "...And an even greater wife."

Brittany stopped crying just long enough to look into Alvin's eyes and to assure herself that he was being genuine.

"We'll do it together," Simon said, taking his cup in one hand. We all did what he did. "On the count of three." We all watched him intently. "One…" Alvin and Brittany locked hands, prompting Theodore to grab onto my hand and squeeze it tight. I also saw Simon take Jeanette's hand. "Two…" we all looked around the table, giving each other one last goodbye in a way. "Th-"

"Wait!" I interrupted. "I have an idea!"

Everyone took a huge sigh of relief, and then looked at me hopefully.

"That war station you guys found, that whole operation… it must have come here by at least one ship, right?"

Simon considered this, then said, "yeah, but we have no idea where it is." Then suddenly his eyes widened.

"There's a ship somewhere on this planet that transported all of those marines down here," I continued in excitement. "We know it has to be here, because the computer clearly said there were no survivors."

"But where?" Jeanette piped up skeptically.

"Who cares?" Theodore said. "We need to find it!"

"And then what?" Jean snapped at him. "That ship is human sized, remember? And the systems are all different and we probably wouldn't be able to pilot the thing anyway."

"And before we even go through any of that," Simon interjected, "we need to return that mother's baby to her and hope that she spares our lives."

We all looked unsure of ourselves. Finally, I broke the silence by saying, "our orders were to only use these suicide pill if there was absolutely no hope of survival. We have hope. It's just a little, but it's there. We can't just give up on ourselves." And with that I picked up my cup and poured it out on the kitchen floor, completely washing away any hope I had of a quick and painless death.

Alvin took one look at Brittany then followed me lead. Then he took Brittany's cup for her and emptied her water on top of his own spill. Theodore enthusiastically emptied his own cup, knowing that this at least meant that he'd live for a little while longer.

Simon and Jeanette knew that at this point there was no going back. Still unsure, they finally emptied their cyanide water onto the floor.

 **Haha! Gotcha! Ya'll thought I was just gonna end the chipmunks like that?**

 **As always if you enjoyed the chapter, be sure to let me know if a review, and if you had any problems/concerns/advice I'm always open to hearing that too. Don't be shy and let me know what you thought!**

 **Oh and don't forget that there's an M-rated Alvittany one-shot based off of the earlier "shower" chapter that I just dropped as well. If you're interested, give it a read.**

 **Next chapter will be dropping ASAP!**


	12. The Air Vents

**Hey all! Loved the feedback I got from last chapter (as well as the one-shot that you should check out if you haven't already). This chapter is going to start picking up in intensity so be ready for that feeling in your stomach when you're hanging on the edge of your seat, genuinely hoping for our main characters to catch just one lucky break.**

 **Oh, also sorry these have been slow coming out recently. School has been amped up for me lately.**

 **Chapter 12: The Air Vents**

 _Alvin's POV_

A father. Oh God. I was known for being a selfish, immature child, even know as a technical adult. And now I was expected to take care of one. Looking at this as a screw-up would be unfair and a little messed up. Of course I was happy that I was going to help bring a life into this world… I just didn't envision it happening so soon.

At least I could be thankful that it would be with the right girl. The girl of my dreams. No matter what happened or how bad things got, I'd never leave Brit.

Not that it probably mattered, anyway. We had a long, uphill battle ahead of us if we were going to get home safely, and we needed a lot of things to go our way.

"These are the blueprints of the air systems," Simon said to the rest of us as he unrolled a large sheet of paper over the kitchen table, which contained what looked like a maze of ventilation ducts.

We all leaned over to follow along with what he said.

"The exits are located here… here, here, and… here," he finished by pointing at the spot in the engine room where we had originally trapped that little troublemaker. "This one way over here is in the garbage room, right next to the airlock. I think if we open this door that leads to the airlock, and then open up the exit in the garbage room, we could trap him in the airlock and then open it up to let him outside."

We all looked unsure.

"Look, I know it's a long-shot but it's our best bet. Unless someone else has another idea?"

"I just have one question," Jeanette spoke up, "how are we gonna get this thing to go through the garbage room on its own? I doubt it would unless it felt like it had to."

"This is where Alvin's gun stash comes in," he said.

We all looked at him in confusion, especially me.

"Most animals run away from the sound of gunfire, do they not?" he theorized. "One of us chases it through the vent system firing blanks. That simple."

"I'm not volunteering for that," Theodore said. "No way. You saw how strong those things were."

"This one's just a little baby, Theo," I said. "I'll do it."

Brittany put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a look that said, "Please don't."

"No," Simon said. "I brought this creature on board. And the safety of my crew is my first responsibility as Captain. I'll do it."

"I'm Field Operations Officer," I said matter of factly. "It's _my_ responsibility."

"Alvin," Simon said, lowering his voice, "you and I both know that that title is just an excuse for you to be here."

Everyone laughed, including me.

"Besides, you have more to take care of than just yourself. You have Brittany. You have your kid."

I decided Simon was right, so I nodded and wrapped my hand around Brittany's waist in defeat.

"It's settled, then," Simon announced. "I'm gonna need a revolver. And a flashlight."

 _Simon's POV_

The engine room was hauntingly silent, and the angle that the ship was at made it feel nauseating. Alvin was in there with me to see me into the air duct entrance.

"Got everything?" he asked me.

"Let me see," I said. "Revolver, check. Flashlight, check. Headset?"

Alvin handed me the extra headset that he had brought. I flipped it to channel 1 and fitted it to my head. "Testing, one-two one-two."

Alvin spoke into the headset that was already on his head, " _Yeah, pretty sure it's working. Brit, can you hear us up there_?"

" _Affirmative_ ," came Brit's answer from her chair in the cockpit in front of the motherboard. Because there were no cameras inside the air vents, the motherboard screen had loaded a giant blueprint of the air system that also happened to track movement, similar to the device Alvin had used earlier. This meant that not only would she be able to follow my moves and guide me, but she'd also be able to let me know where the alien was if he was moving around at all.

I nervously climbed into position to climb into the air duct. I held my flashlight up, pointed directly at the entrance, and I had my gun ready even though it was only loaded with blanks.

"Hey," Alvin said softly behind me. "I'll see you on the other side bro."

I smiled at him, genuinely appreciative of his support.

" _Simon_ ," Brittany spoke to me through the headset, " _everything's set up and ready to go._ "

"Alright," I said, taking a deep breath. "I'm ready. Open the air duct."

I heard her typing, then the covering of the vent slid open with a rusty screeching sound that made me grit my teeth. I shone my light inside the pipe, illuminating what was otherwise a pitch-black tunnel made out of aluminum. There was no Martian, at least not as far as I could see down at the corner several feet away.

I set my flashlight down inside the air duct, then did the same with my gun, making sure to point both of them away from me. I then got my nerves together and pulled myself up, making as little noise as possible. I grabbed the light and gun and took a step away from the edge of the pipe.

Making eye contact with my brother, who was watching me enter safely from the ground, I said, "Ok, Brit. Close the sliders."

It wasn't long before the covering slid closed behind me with a screechy, rusty clank, locking me inside ventilation system alone. I took one deep breath, suddenly remembering that I was claustrophobic. The pipe wasn't quite tall enough for me to stand up all the way, meaning I had to crouch to get around. With no light escaping through the entrance, the whole thing was pitch black. All I had to light my way was my small flashlight.

"You picking up his signal yet?" I muttered, trying to rest comfortably.

" _No sign of him yet_ ," Brittany responded. " _He might be sleeping._ " I could suddenly hear a high pitched _beep_ through the headset. " _That's your signal,_ " she said. " _You just appeared_."

"Ok," I sighed, "notify me the second you see him."

There was no answer.

"Brittany, you read me?" I demanded impatiently.

" _Yeah I read you, Simon_ ," she said. " _Relax. You're going to be fine_."

I nodded, knowing she was right that I needed to keep my nerves under control.

With my light pointed down the pipe in my left hand and my empty gun in the other, I bent my legs, hunched my back, and pressed forward. The metal at the other end reflected my light back at me as I tried to shuffle towards it. Each of my footsteps made undesired noise against the aluminum surface they stepped on. Walking got harder and harder on my leg and back muscles as I went. By the time I reached the corner, they were already aching.

When I arrived at the corner, which turned right at exactly 90 degrees, I got on my hands and knees, if for no other reason, I needed to rest. I slowly peeked my flashlight around the corner, down the intersecting hallway of pipe, and poked my head around the corner to see.

This stretch of pipe seemed to go on forever, as my light barely even touched the opposite end. I forced myself onto my feet and began to move again. Painfully, I trudged through the metallic tunnel with increasing disregard for how much noise I was making. Each step was a noticeable "thonk" and each breath I took was becoming heavy and desperate for air that wasn't thick and hot. Sweat was beginning to pour down my face and drench my clothes and body.

I soon came across an intersecting tunnel to my left. I carefully shone the flashlight through it, and it seemed as empty a vent as the rest of what I had seen.

Suddenly, I heard another _beep_ through the headset. " _What the…_?" I heard Brittany mutter. " _This can't be right_."

"What is it?" I whispered.

" _According to this signal, there's something in there that's a little bit bigger than you are_."

"It can't be the Martian," I said, suddenly getting nervous again. "It's only been alive 36 hours."

" _It's reading right_ ," she said. " _Be careful, Simon_."

I took a deep breath. "Ok, where is he?"

" _Umm… keep going in the direction you were going_."

I turned my light down the tunnel that I had been walking through and began to press on. "Ok," I said.

" _You're going to come to a four-way intersection soon,_ " Brittany said, directing me.

Panting hard, I eventually stumbled into a round metallic bubble that had four tunnels of pipe connecting to it in all directions.

" _Shit,_ " Brittany cursed. " _Simon, you're going to need to hold your position please. His signal died._ "

I grumbled in frustration as I began to turn about, flashing my light down every single stretch of pipe that I was surrounded by at least twice. I couldn't see or hear any alien. "See him yet?" I asked, continuing to spin around with my beam of light, checking each pathway carefully.

" _Not yet_."

Getting impatient, I lifted my gun. I waited for a few seconds, hoping to hear a _beep_ that meant the signal had returned, but it didn't. Shutting my eyes, I pointed my revolver down a random pipeway and pulled the trigger. A blinding flash and a deafening bang made me stumble backwards, as even the recoil of the shot took me by surprise.

As the ringing in my ears slowly started to go away, I suddenly heard the _beep_ in my headset once again. " _Oh my God_ ," Brittany gasped. Another _beep_.

"What?" I said, suddenly frozen in my tracks.

" _He-he's right behind you_!" Another _beep_. " _Simon he's coming right for you_!"

"Right behind me?" I said, frustrated and dizzy and not even sure which direction I had come from. "What do you mean?" Another _beep_.

Suddenly, I could hear some scratchy, heavy pawsteps. But I couldn't tell from the echo of where they were coming from. Another _beep_. My breathing turned into frenzied gasps for air as I began to spin all around, desperately trying to figure out which direction the Martian was coming from. The pawsteps were getting louder and faster.

Desperate, I lifted the revolver right next to my flashlight and pointed it down a stretch of pipe. I fired the gun towards that one, then quickly turned to the next one and did the same, repeating until I had fired blanks at all four pipeways in a last-ditch attempt to scare the Martian away.

The steps were so close now and they didn't stop, definitely coming right for me.

" _SIMON GET OUT OF THERE_!" Brittany's panicked voice begged me.

It was crunch time. I quickly took a random guess as to which pipeway was safest and began to run through it as fast as I could, still having to hunch over and looking back every once in awhile. I looked forward, then flashed my light back to look over my shoulder as I ran.

I didn't see anything, so I flashed my light back down the pipe which I was running just in time to catch a glimpse of the giant red-furred Martian that in just one split second, pounced on me and knocked me on my back, landing on top of me.

 _Brittany's POV_

All five of us stared at the cockpit in disbelief. All we could hear was a big "thud" as Simon's headset pair was knocked off his head and landed on the bottom of the pipe. I covered my mouth in shock as the two dots on the motherboard screen had combined, and all we could hear were the muffled and echoey screams from Simon, as well as some hissing and some other noises that indicated that a struggle was going on.

"Oh God," I said.

Suddenly, one of the dots sped away from the other, back towards the four way intersection. It was obviously Simon's, as it was the smaller of the two. Simon darted away as quickly as he probably could in those cramped pipes. He came to a halt with a thud in the intersection, alerting the Martian who began to creep towards him.

"He left his light behind!" Jeanette gasped, obviously not wanting to watch.

Simon apparently picked himself up and began to stumble down the pipe that led towards the garbage room that he was supposed to chase the Martian towards. Our eyes lit up as there was hope, but Simon wasn't going nearly as fast as he definitely could have.

"There might be something wrong with one of his legs," I said gravely.

"Eleanor, be ready," Alvin said.

Eleanor said nothing, watching the motherboard screen intently with her hands folded over her mouth in prayer.

The Martian was picking up speed, chasing behind Simon, obviously tracking the direction of his footsteps. Simon was trudging through the pipe, probably on all fours, so quickly that he slammed into solid pipe when he came onto an intersection. In a panic, he shook off his daze and turned left. Another good guess. Just behind him, the Martian made the same mistake as he did and went probably head-first into the aluminum at full speed. We could all hear an angry hiss as the beast stayed put for a while, allowing Simon to put some distance in between the two.

He was slowly coming down the home stretch. Just around the next corner was the open exit that led to the garbage room. He could probably see the light. In fact, he could probably smell it.

Suddenly, the Martian began to move again. It sprinted in Simon's direction in a fit of rage, closing the gap between the two quickly. We all held our breaths, and I held my hand on the button that closed the exit. Almost there…

The two dots were almost on top of eachother. At the last second Simon's dot rounded the corner out the exit and disappeared. I slammed my fist on the button. The Martian tried to round the corner but suddenly halted with a thud against the now-closed vent covering.

I switched the screen to the camera feed in the garbage room. Simon just laid there, on the ground, surrounded by garbage, panting. It was hard to tell with how fuzzy the camera was, but he didn't look so good.

 _Eleanor's POV_

Theodore and I rushed into the infirmary to get it prepared, although for what we weren't sure. One thing we did know: this was way different than taking care of Brittany.

"Theo, pull out the operation table," I commanded.

He did so quickly, knowing that this could be life or death for Simon.

I brought out the pain-numbing drugs, the anesthetics, the antibiotics, the rubbing alcohol, the bandages, the stitch-wire and needles, and the operation tools and set them on the fold-up operation table that Theodore had set up for me.

Just as I felt as though I was as prepared as possible given the circumstances, I was only given time to inhale and exhale to calm my nerves before Alvin, Brittany, and Jeanette came charging through the infirmary, carrying Simon between them.

"Set him on the table!" I barked at them.

Theodore helped them gently place Simon face up on the makeshift operating table, and this was when I got my first look at him. His left eye had a giant claw-sized bloody gash through it. His right arm was badly bruised and dislocated. His left leg had obviously been crushed and broken somewhere, as it was swollen and bent outwardly.

"He had passed out by the time we got to him," Jeanette said, panting with her hands on her knees.

 _And add a probable concussion to that list_ , I thought to myself grimly.

"Ok," I said, grabbing an empty shot needle and some pain medication. I filled up the container with the pain meds and stuck the needle into a vein in Simon's one good arm.

"That was a lot…" Jeanette said in a worried tone.

"I know," I responded. "That's because this is about to be long and painful."

 **Sorry for the shorter chapter! I felt like that was a good place to leave ya'll hanging.**

 **I would like to take a little time to address the fact that some of you reviewers have been receiving messages saying that your reviews are either too negative, too nit-picky, not grateful enough etc. I would just like to assure ANY reviewer, as well as whoever sent those messages, that this couldn't be farther than the truth.**

 **I have always, as a writer, invited constructive criticism openly. I don't take it as a knock on my writing, I take it as a tip to get better. So when a reviewer takes the time out of his/her day to write me a detailed review that not only tells me what I'm getting right but also politely lets me know what I'm getting wrong, I appreciate those reviews most of all.**

 **And so, at this time, I would like to invite all of you who have made it this far to now kindly leave a review. If there were aspects to this chapter you liked, I'm enthusiastic to hear about it. If there were aspects that could be improved, then I most definitely want to hear about those too, so long as you tell me in a constructive and polite way, as all of you guys have done so well so far.**

 **I'll catch you guys in the next chapter!**


	13. Plan B

**Whats going on everybody! I know it's been a long time since I've updated. Hopefully most of ya'll are still out there. The good news is school is winding down and I just got a brand new laptop as a grad present so hopefully I can get updates out quicker!**

 **Chapter 13: Plan B**

 _Eleanor's POV_

I so wish that I had had something that could just put Simon under completely, because it felt like the pain medication had barely had an effect. I began with by sprinkling disinfectant onto any open wounds, including his gashed eye. This forced a semi-conscious scream of pain to erupt from Simon's lips, which entailed him struggling and thrashing his arms about for a few seconds before slipping back into motionlessness.

Next, I set about relocating his arm. I forced his elbow into a ninety degree angle and wrapped a towel around it. Grabbing the towel with both hands, I turned to the rest and said calmly, "hold him down."

They all did as I asked, grabbing him and pressing down.

I looked up at all of them and counted down quietly: "three… two… one…"

I yanked up on the towel, snapping his arm back into his socket with a disgusting crunch noise.

His whole body came alive by violently struggling underneath our grasps. It was all we could do to keep him on the table as he screeched in agony. When he finally calmed down and rested his head back on the table, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

But the relief soon went away. "We have to set his broken leg," I sighed. "He's really not gonna like this.

"Set it with what?" Jeanette asked.

"Some sort of metal brace," I responded thoughtfully.

Theodore, who had been in charge of inventory, began to dig through a box under the table. After a couple of seconds, he stood back up with what looked like a metal toothpick in his hands.

"Perfect," I said, taking it from him. I pressed it against the outside of Simon's broken leg, which in and of itself made him hiss in pain. "Alvin," I said, "hold this here."

"Alright," he said, assisting me.

I took the duct tape that had been knocked off the table and stuck the loose end at the top of Simon's thigh. The break looked like it was at the mid-shin section, bending the lower part of his leg including his ankle and foot slightly outward. I lifted his thigh just a few inches off the table, making sure to keep it pressed against the brace, and began to wrap the tape tightly around it.

When I had gone around his leg at least a dozen times, I used my teeth to cut the tape and end the stream. I then started another wrap of tape at his knee, making sure the brace kept tight to his leg. When I finished the second round of tape and bit it off, I looked up at Alvin. "This is going to be the really bad one," I warned him.

He sighed and nodded, grabbing his ankle and holding it to the brace.

I stuck the end of my tape right over the midsection of his shin where it looked like the break was. I took a deep breath to ready myself. Then forced his leg straight with a loud crunch.

"AAAGGHH!" Simon screamed so loud that he began to choke on himself, before he passed back out.

I went back to taping, with murmurs escaping from Simon's unconscious mouth from the pain. nto his pupil.

After what felt like forever, I finally finished and bit off the last stream of duct tape.

Everyone exhaled a loud sigh, almost as if they thought it was over.

"I'm not done yet," I said, bursting their bubble.

Jeanette looked like she was about to cry from what she had seen me put Simon through. But it was all necessary.

I turned my attention to my patient's bad eye. It had a giant gash through it. The eyelid looked to be sliced in half, and it didn't look like it had protected his eyeball at all. I pulled out a small flashlight, lifted his eyelid as best I could, and shone it oExcept there was no pupil left. All that was left was a giant, deep gash and what was left of the white part of his eyeball.

I sighed. "I can't save his eye. It's gone."

This made Jeanette burst into tears. Brittany tried to comfort her as she continued to sob into her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, guys," I said solemnly. "There's literally nothing I can do."

"It's ok, Ellie," Jean told me as best she could as she tried to calm herself down. "Do what you gotta do."

I bit my lip. "I'm gonna have to remove it altogether," I announced.

We all bowed our heads, thinking about the sickening surprise that our Captain would be in for when he wakes up.

Without wasting time, I grabbed the precision knife off the table. "I need everyone to hold him down again," I said.

Everyone grabbed a part of Simon's body and seemed ready to resist his thrashing and struggling. They looked away uneasily as I opened Simon's eyelid once again, ready to begin the operation.

 _Brittany's POV_

We all stared at Simon's motionless body through the infirmary window. He now rested on the bed that I had been in just earlier today. He had a blood soaked bandage over his now-empty eye socket.

Eleanor looked exhausted and very nauseated.

Simon's brothers looked guilty in a way. I knew Alvin was wishing that it had been him instead of his younger brother.

I wished I could have thought of a way to make him feel better. That's what a girlfriend is supposed to be able to do. But I could come up with nothing.

Jeanette had a stone cold look on her face. Like so many emotions were coursing through her mind, yet she couldn't let us know about any of them. "We don't have time to just sit around and wait," she said. "Meeting in the cockpit, right now."

"Meeting about what?" I asked.

"There's still a pack of angry Martians out there," she said, turning away from us. "And they'll be back tomorrow."

 _Jeanette's POV_

A couple minutes later, we had all gathered in the control room, sitting in a circle in our designated seats. The only difference was I had taken Simon's old captain seat, in an attempt to show that we were all going to have to step up.

I cleared my throat to bring the meeting to order. Once everyone had given me their undivided attention, I spoke: "Ok, so Simon can't be here to lead us for the time being, which means we need to pick up the slack."

Theodore scoffed at me, allowing me to notice that his eyes were tearing up a little bit.

"We still have the same problem on our hands that we did before Simon got hurt. That hasn't gone away. I think we've determined that going into that vent system directly is a bad idea, so we need a new plan."

Suddenly, the Motherboard screen next to Brittany lit up the a loud " _DING_ ". She turned and examined the notification.

"What does it say, Brit?" Alvin asked her.

"It says…" Brittany trailed off, then gasped. "Video message from NASA headquarters!"

We all jumped up from our seats and crowded around Brittany and the computer screen impatiently. "Play it," I commanded her, as if she needed my approval. I was so hoping that it was a message from Dave, or anything that could pick up our spirits just a little bit.

Brittany clicked on the link. The screen went into the black loading screen, then all of a sudden came to life in the form of Tom Butler's face with a plain white wall in the background. The man who was in charge of this whole mission had a cocky grin on his face as he seemed to stare at us. He then began to speak:

" _You guys gave us a pretty good scare… for a few seconds we thought you guys would actually make it back into orbit._ "

We all looked at each other in confusion.

" _I know you guys have a lot of questions right now, so seeing as though none of you will ever set foot on Earth again, we figured it was only humane to answer some of them._ "

I got a giant pit in my stomach from hearing this but we all kept listening.

" _First and foremost, yes we knew about the Martians. We first discovered traces of them through the Hovell Telescope years ago. That was and still is classified information, but a contact mission was approved nonetheless. That was the Omortson, which you guys stumbled across. For the record, that ship was carrying over 100 men and women, the majority of whom were Marines. Trained killers. They lasted a couple days. They're all dead now, if that was still somehow a question in your minds. All of them._ "

It was disturbing how little Butler seemed to care about the deaths of these crewmembers.

" _This brings us to why we needed you. Well, you see, the president thought that in order to approve a war to eradicate those little bastards, he'd need popular public support. That way congress would have no choice but to fund the nuclear showcase that we could put together… so we needed you. We needed meat to dangle in front of those furry little shits. Lovable meat, that the American people will miss and will get angry over when they turned up dead. I mean, let's face it: you guys just weren't producing hit music anymore. But you sure were some lovable, nostalgic names._ "

We all continued to stare at the screen, listening with our mouths wide open.

" _It's unlikely that any of you truly know what you're dealing with, so let me give you an idea. They can withstand almost any conditions you put them in. Their senses are almost totally evolved for hunting. It's body is heavy, muscular, but also agile and explosive. They do not subject themselves to emotions or delusions of morality. All they know is kill, eat, reproduce. And the more they reproduce, the more perfect they get. That's really what you're dealing with, here: a perfect organism. Perfectly bread killers. Hundreds of them._ "

You could hear a pin drop in the room as Butler paused to clear his throat.

" _I hope you go down knowing that your deaths will provide excellent footage for the propaganda films that are being edited as we speak. I hope that gives you comfort. Believe me, I do feel bad lying to you in the way that we did. I just hope that you can appreciate the fact that we are being honest with you now._ "

"This can't be real," Theodore whimpered, shaking his head in disbelief.

" _Oh, and one more thing,_ " Butler said enthusiastically, forcing the rest of us to perk our ears out of curiosity. " _We have no way of knowing exactly how many of you are still alive by the time you are getting this. But although I can't lie to you about your chances, if it makes you feel any better… you have my sympathies._ " And with that his slight grin grew into a giant and evil smile that eyed us down menacingly.

Having finally had enough, Brittany ended the video. "There's no way there's much truth to any of that," she assured us. "Butler's gone off the deep end. We all agreed from the get-go that he was a little sketchy."

After thinking it over for a second, I finally said, "Motherboard… what is our mission directive?"

Motherboard took a second to calibrate my command. I had had the mission directive that Megs gave us committed to memory. It went: "To make history and break new grounds, to explore the Red Planet 'Mars'. To explore, experiment, and to return home safely."

Finally, Motherboard loaded its answer to my question. She read aloud as the text appeared on the screen: "To make contact with alien Martian species, and to record all events. Violence and destruction of equipment expected. All crewmembers are expendable."

"Crew members expendable?" Eleanor gasped in shock.

"What about our lives, you son of a bitch?" Theodore erupted at the screen out of rage.

To our surprise, Motherboard answered him. " _I repeat. Lives of the crewmembers expendable._ "

And that was enough for us. We knew then that we had been set up on a suicide mission. We had been flown off to die for a propaganda film. We now felt even more alone than we had before.

"Well," I spoke up, "NASA wasn't going to be any help anyway. We're going to have to get ourselves out of this."

"Yeah right," Theodore butted in.

"Can it, Theo," I snapped at him. I could tell the whole group felt pretty hopeless in that moment. "I have an idea. We can all get out of this ok. We've been in tough spots before."

Theodore looked up at me, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "You've got to be kidding me, right? You're acting like this is just another day at work."

"Shut up, Theodore," I threatened him again.

"Why? What's the point anymore? We're done!"

"Shut it!"

"We're fucked! It's game over!"

I was surprised at the sudden lashing out by Theodore, as was everybody else, judging by their wide eyes. "You're going to have to get ahold of yourself, Theodore," I said in a firm but calm voice. "Because like it or not we need you."

Theodore looked at the others who had been watching us, breathing hard, then sat down without saying anything else.

"Good," I said, "now I've got a plan that could save us. All six of us. But we're gonna need all hands on deck, especially with Simon down. We all made a commitment by dumping out our poison that we would fight with every breath in our bodies to survive. I want to stand by that, not just for ourselves but for Dave. Who's with me?"

Alvin was the first one to nod and to take my hand to show that he was with me. Brittany soon joined him, followed by Eleanor, followed hesitantly by Theo.

"Excellent," I said, allowing myself to breath out in relief. "My plan doesn't involve capturing the pest that's camping out in the air ducts. He can stay exactly where he is. Instead, we're gonna rig the whole ship to blow."

My crew all looked at me in shock.

"We also need to beef up the rover," I said. "Alvin, this is where you come in. I need armor on that thing. As much as possible. And I need you to weaponize it however you can. And make sure you load it with guns and ammo."

"Woah woah woah!" Alvin interrupted. "I have less than one night to do all this? All by myself?"

"Not at all," I corrected him. "We're all going to pitch in. You're just in charge."

Alvin nodded, groaning, knowing that it was going to be a long night. "Right," he said. "I'm on it."

"Thank you." I turned my attention to his green-clad brother. "Theo," I said, "you need to load the rover with enough food to last us at least two weeks."

"You mean, normal rations or stretched rations?"

"Stretched rations. We don't have that much space."

He nodded. "Got it."

"Eleanor, make sure you pack any essential medical supplies. Especially stuff you'll need for Simon."

She nodded glumly without saying anything.

"And Brittany, you're going to stick with me and help me rig this ship to explode remotely."

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked, obviously a little intimidated.

"Don't worry," I assured her. "I'll tell you what to do. Just follow my lead."

 _Theodore's POV_

The Sun was beginning to force itself over the edge of the dusty red Martian horizon.

After a full night of work, the rover looked pretty sweet. Alvin and I had welded a makeshift plow onto the front with thick aluminum that had been melted down from some of the other equipment. The sides and back were boasting spikes and thicker armor in some areas. The sides of the wheels were now protected by metal as well. It was a meaner, tougher looking rover than before.

I helped the other four carry Simon, still passed out, on the fold-up table all the way into the cargo bay and into the rover. It was hard enough to make room for him on a vehicle that seemed packed to the top with weapons, ammunition, freeze-dried food, medical supplies and other tools such as flashlights and motion trackers.

Eventually, though, we did manage to set him down and strap him to the floor. We knew very well that we were in for a bumpy ride.

When Jeanette and I happened to be alone for a few moments, I decided to speak to her. "Is the ship ready to blow?" I asked her.

"Hopefully," she muttered, not even really looking at me. "There's just so many variables. Any number of things could go wrong."

I didn't say anything at first. Not really knowing how to segway into it, I was frank with her. "Look, Jean, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't apologize," she interrupted me. "You were traumatized and you reacted. We're all going through alot right now so everyone understands. Just move on and do your best."

I nodded, gulping down my pride.

Suddenly, Brittany's yell could be heard throughout everyone's communication headsets: " _they're coming! A whole horde of Martians! Headed this way!_ "

Adrenaline filled my whole body as the whole rest of the crew began scrambling to get into the rover and prepare for the escape. Alvin hopped into the driver's seat. Jeanette stood behind him. The rest of us sat next to where Simon was lying on the floor with guns in our hands that, admittedly, we didn't really know how to use properly.

This could be it. This could be our last sunrise.

 **Cliffhanger! I am soooooo sorry for how long this took me. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Now that classes are pretty much over, I won't be so busy.**

 **As always, if you enjoyed the content PLEASE let me know by smacking that review button. Or if there were some things that you think could be improved that's even more reason to review! ALL constructive criticism is welcome!**

 **Till next time ya'll!**


	14. No Room For Error

**Hello Everyone… so I guess I have some explaining to do.**

 **Basically, I didn't have access to the internet for a while so I wasn't really able to do any writing. If you guys are still out there and still wanting to refresh your memory and keep getting updated on this story, then the good news is I should be back permanently and will be able to regularly post again.**

 **If you're just now getting introduced to the story, thank you so much for reading this far.**

 **No matter your situation, I sincerely hope that you read and enjoy this chapter and if you do make sure to leave a review to let me know.**

 **Chapter 14: No Room for Error**

 _Jeanette's POV_

We all sat in fear, able to hear the horde of Martians approaching our ship from inside the rover. They hissed and screamed at each other as they got closer and closer. We were unable to see them, as Motherboard was still in the cockpit, but we knew they were all headed in our direction.

"Everybody just keep calm," I warned my crew. "And be ready for a fight, if it comes to that."

We all had our Mars suits on, in case anything went wrong or if we needed to make a quick exit from the rover.

The massive army was now very close. They seemed to be reacting more violently, more angrily to the sight of the _Caesar_. They were much louder.

"Everyone stay low and don't make a peep," Alvin hissed at everybody through gritted teeth.

I took a deep breath. "It's almost time."

A few moments later, the sound of the marching horde stopped almost instantly. Every muscle in my body clinched. Where were they.

Suddenly, a violent scream erupted from outside. A scream that was instantly recognizable as coming from the queen herself. She was letting us know that she was here.

Knowing it was time, I pressed the button and ducked as low as I could with everybody else. The cargo bay ramp opened up and began to drop to the ground below. As soon as it hit the bottom, another annoyed hiss from the queen prompted her minions to begin flooding the ramp and climbing up into the cargo bay. Dozens were swarming through, ignoring the rover because they hopefully did not know that's where we were hiding. They began banging against the door into the main part of the ship and eventually broke through it.

The whole ship began flashing warning lights and sirens, as the oxygen instantly escaped all parts that were not sealed off. More and more of those creatures filed through the cargo bay, until finally no more were climbing up the ramp. They had all forced themselves into different rooms within the ship to search for us as well as the queen's offspring.

I waited a few moments to be sure before I finally whispered so Alin, "now."

He wasted no time in pulling himself up and into the driver's seat and buckling himself on. All the meanwhile we could hear those filthy creatures tearing up the _Caesar_ from the inside. The ship itself was beginning to shake. Alvin turned on the rover's engine and as quickly as he could put it in gear.

He let the front tires roll onto the ramp before flooring the gas pedal. The rover zipped down the ramp before shaking as the tires collided with the ground. Those of us who were inside of the rover were saved by its suspensions.

We could see the Martians that were waiting outside the ship through the dust that got kicked up around us, including the queen herself.

Alvin slowed the rover to a stop. The queen glared into our eyes through the windshield, surrounded by 25 or so of her pawns. They began to carefully approach us, circling around the vehicle to not let us by.

At the optimal moment, I turned to Alvin. "Get us out of here."

He stomped down on the gas pedal once again, keeping the rover aimed directly at the queen. Despite the speed and power of the vehicle, the queen didn't flinch, but instead stared us down as we charged towards her. At the last moment, her subordinate who was closest to her jumped in our path to take the worst of the blow for her. This was the opening we needed, as Alvin jerked the steering wheel and took us full throttle through the hole in the wall where the one Martian used to be.

Just when we thought we were clear, the whole rover shook with a thud and a clank that came from our roof. The queen had dove and landed on top of us, and was holding onto the top of the rover in rage so as to not let us escape.

It was now or never. From my home-made remote I was holding, I input the code 1972 and pressed "Confirm".

 _Alvin's POV_

The cockpit of the _Caesar_ was the first part of the ship to erupt into flames, followed just a split second later by the lower sections. The explosion systematically made its way down as low as the cargo bay, and then to the landing legs that were helping to hold it up, as I had smeared the whole thing in a flammable and reactionary gel.

The whole ship went up in flames within seconds, with every Martian who forced themselves in going up with it. As it structurally blew apart, its different parts flew in all different directions and what was left of the main ship slid down the side of the mountain that it had been resting on with a loud screech and landed on the Mars dirt with a destructive collision.

The Queen looked back at the destruction and yelped in horror. She jumped off of the back of the roof and started sprinting back towards where the flames were still consuming the remnants of the our old ship.

I didn't dare stop the rover, not even for one second to look back. We all knew that there was nothing living left. Her child, and all of her minions that were inside the _Caesar_ died instantly in that explosion.

This was confirmed a few moments later when, even as we had sped away from the scene as fast as our vehicle would carry us, an angry, hate-filled screech erupted behind us. It was the Queen again, letting us know that there was no saving us anymore. There was no more diplomacy, no more mercy. If she found us again she would kill us.

It wasn't until like a full minute later that everyone finally began to ease up. We had put a great deal of distance between ourselves and the queen and what was left of her army.

"Is everyone ok?" Jeanette piped up.

No one said anything, which I guess indicated to her that everyone was ok.

"What about the supplies?" she pressed.

I could see in the overhead mirror that the huge stash of food and ammo had been messed up a little from getting thrown around during our escape.

"Theo, could you make sure nothing's too damaged," Jean said as she leaned over to check on Simon with Eleanor.

Brittany trudged up behind me, threw her arms around my chest, and just stood like that for a few seconds. "Are you ok?" I asked her.

"No," she responded bluntly. "How far are we from the station?"

"Not far. Are you hurt?" I asked her, more concerned about her health than anything else in the Universe.

"No," she sighed. Then she said, "my stomach hurts."

My eyes widened as I realized what she was getting at. "How bad?"

She looked me in the eyes and said, "the baby's fine, I think. I'm pretty sure it's just a stomach ache."

I grabbed her hand with my right hand, keeping my left hand on the wheel and one eye in front of us.

"Nothing's damaged, Jean," Ellie said.

"Simon looks fine too," Jeanette breathed a sigh of relief. "Are we being followed."

I whispered in Brittany's ear, "could you check radar for me?"

She nodded and let go of me, turning to the radar to my left as I navigated us through a deep crevice in the surface of the Red Planet.

"I don't see anything," she said out loud.

"Good," Jean replied.

"We're coming up on the Marine Base," I said aloud.

You could feel the collective sigh of relief come from everyone, even though we weren't in the clear yet.

I, for one, wasn't letting up on the gas. Who knew how much time we had to get ourselves into this base, dig in and hide? There was way too much to do for us to start relaxing now.

The rover turned the corner of a ledge, to reveal through the windshield the giant War Headquarters that Simon and I had explored earlier. The Marine base still stood tall through the bad Martian weather; the dusty winds, the sandstorms, the fierce dirty red clouds. The American flag was still flying, though it seemed only to be hanging on by a thread. Everyone moved to the front of the rover to stare through the cockpit as we rolled towards the dauntingly massive base, with its multiple surrounding buildings. Solar panels covered in ash and dust were still scattered all around. I only began to brake when we closed in on the garage. Our rover slowed to a stop just outside the entrance.

I put her in park. "Helmets on," I barked, almost as an order. "I'm going to need everyone's help."

Everyone did as I asked, fitting their Mars helmets over their heads. With the exception of Simon, of course, who remained unconscious. I also rose from my seat and twisted my helmet into my suit, creating an airtight seal.

Without saying anything, I led the way into the decompression chamber of the rover, which was only big enough for three of us at a time. Brittany, Eleanor and I exited the vehicle first, then waited patiently for Theodore and Jeanette. It was hard to stand straight, with the wind that was steadily picking up.

As soon as Theo and Jean joined us, I marched towards the garage door with haste. The others followed me until I stopped underneath the code input pad. It was way too tall for me to reach, as it was designed for humans to use. "I need two of you to throw me up there," I said.

" _What_?" Jeanette said in confusion.

"Here," I said, turning to her. "Come here." She stepped towards me until she too was directly under the pad. "Ok, now get down on one knee and cup your hands."

She seemed to understand where I was going with this right away and did as I asked.

"Ok, now I need Theo."

Theodore came forward and got down on one knee, facing Jeanette and cupping his hands just as I had instructed her to do. I wasted no time stepping onto his intertwined fingers and using them to lift my other foot up and step up onto Jean's hands. I bent my knees and stared up at my target: the code pad, readying myself.

"Three… two… one… go!"

They both shot up, with my timing my jump perfectly, launching myself upwards towards the pad. My eyes widened as I actually overshot it. I hit the wall just above it, but managed to hold on and skid down. I barely was able to grab onto the top of the input pad in order to keep myself falling all the way back down. With sweat beginning to fill my fur, I painstakingly pressed each button: 1-7-3-8. Then I pressed enter.

The entrance began to slide open with a rattly rustiness that made me cringe. I dropped down, rejoining my crew members who were all anxious to get the rover inside and close up shop. As if that alone would provide some safety.

 _Theodore's POV_

The rover rattled to life, and was quickly put into gear and thrusted into the inside of the garage. Alvin quickly put her in park as the rest of us were fitting Simon's Mars helmet around his unconscious head. His bloody bandage wrapped around his empty eye socket made me shutter. The rover's engines hummed till they were shut off, and Alvin had made his way back to us.

Together, he and I lifted the stretcher that Simon was resting on. He was carrying the side where his feet were sitting and I had the side his head was on. The girls were the first to go through the decompression chamber and exit the vehicle, while my brothers and I were last to step foot onto the cold hard garage floor.

"Where to now?" I asked out loud.

"We need to get to the control room," Jean responded.

Alvin nodded. "This way, follow me!" He began pushing myself and the stretcher forward towards a big hatch. "And be careful," he warned.

After going through yet another air purification chamber, which I was honestly surprised was working given the condition of this place, we were inside of the marine base. With myself and Simon's head still leading the way, we trudged through a hallway surrounded by giant green lockers.

"They all belonged to one of the soldiers," Alvin murmured, kind of stating the obvious.

"They couldn't have known what they were up against," Brittany said.

"At least they were sent here to actually win," Jeanette said, rolling her eyes. "Unlike us."

As we came close the the end of the hallway, Alvin said to me, "Now take a right at this corner up here."

"My right or your right?" I asked.

"My right."

"Oh, oka-" but I suddenly jumped and gasped just as I was about to turn the corner, as right at the other end of that hallway two giant guns came to life and pointed themselves robotically right at me. In my panic I lost my grip on the stretcher, and Simon's head came crashing down to the ground. His helmet thudded and cracked slightly behind his left ear. My eyes widened at everything that had just happened. The guns had not shot at me, but I was still in shock from dropping my brother. I quickly picked him up again and looked back at the others who were staring back at me with equally wide eyes.

"Oh, God Theodore!" Alvin scolded me.

Jeanette and Eleanor rushed over to make sure Simon was still ok. After examining his helmet, Jean determined that it was still air tight. Eleanor could only hope that the fall hadn't made his concussion any worse.

"Those are automatic sentry bullets," Jeanette murmured at me. "They're all out of bullets, just for future reference."

I gulped and nodded, and we moved on. Alvin continued to lead us towards wherever the control room was. About a minute later he said, "take a right up here. Your right. There are some more sentry guns there, so don't get scared and drop our brother again."

I glared at him and only responded with, "got it. Thanks."

It wasn't long before we arrived at the blockade that Alvin and Jeanette had been speaking about. It was a giant wall of welded-together metal objects like chairs, tables, polls, wires, and lots of other random garbage.

"All the way up there," Alvin said, pointing to what looked like a small hole close to the top of the blockade. "That's the tunnel that the Martians carved through the wall. That's what we gotta go through to get inside."

"How are we supposed to get Simon all the way up there?" I exclaimed.

"Oh relax," Jeanette hushed me. "We'll all help out. We just have to climb and keep him steady."

I rolled my eyes as Alvin and I stepped towards the wall, to the point that we were standing right next to the base. Following his lead, I began to climb. Slowly, making sure to keep Simon's stretcher level. The others climbed underneath us, supporting our unconscious brother as best they could.

We struggled to make progress this way but overtime we finally had gotten close to the opening near the top. One little slip and both me and Simon would fall to our probable deaths.

Alvin was the first to step into the tunnel, with me carefully trying to balance the stretcher while the other end was being carried inside. My arms were fiercely burning from lifting this dude for so long. But it was well worth it.

I carefully climbed through the opening behind Al'. It was just wide and tall enough for us to crouch down and trudge through. It wasn't smooth, though, as there were dozens of jagged edges sticking out in different directions. We had to be extremely not only with Simon but so that we didn't poke a hole in our own Mars suits. Even though there was oxygen, it was below zero degrees inside of the station.

"Now Theo," Alvin muttered to me, "at the other end of this tunnel you're going to see a floor totally overflowing with skeletons."

"Ok?" I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"So don't drop Simon."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Alvin."

But finally, we did come to the end of the tunnel. And nothing could have really prepared me for what was down below us. Bones were literally stacked on top of each other, all across the floor. It was a relatively small room, but it looked like at least three score people lost their lives in here. And at the center of it all was a giant table.

"That's where we need to get to," Jeanette said, pointing at the giant table. "That's the main computer. We gotta get on the same page and we have got to get our act together."

And with that Alvin and I lost no time in starting our climb down to the ground, as we were both obviously anxious to be able to set his heavy ass down.

 **And that is the LONG awaited return chapter of Lost in the Stars. Once again, I want to apologize for the several month-long wait but I hope it was worth it. I'm pretty hell bent on finishing this story no matter what.**

 **As always, no MATTER your opinion of what you just read, please leave a review/pm for me and let me know. Whether it's praise or criticism, I welcome it with open arms.**

 **Also, if you haven't yet, be sure to smack that follow/favorite button if you wanna be notified when the next chapter comes out. 'Till then, I hope you have a great day :).**


	15. Cleanse the System Part 1

**Hello Everybody! I just want to give a quick shoutout to every single one of the fans of this story. Despite the fact that I hadn't updated in months, and despite the fact that my last chapter wasn't one of my best, you guys still turned back up in huge numbers and supported it as if it hadn't skipped a beat. Reading your reviews made me so happy and I'm glad to know someone out there is still listening!**

 **In the next two chapters, I mostly hope to give more insight as to what each character is going through and thinking. There probably won't be much dialogue.**

 **Chapter 15: Cleanse the System (Part 1)**

 _Jeanette's POV_

There wasn't any way to avoid it: you were going to step on bones at some point if you were going to get to the center of that room. The place was littered with them. Some made up mostly-intact skeletons. Others were scattered across the floor. And some of the bones were so crunched up and torn apart that they were completely unrecognizable, even to myself who had read several in-depth books on human biology.

We hadn't seen or heard any signs of living aliens, but that didn't mean we weren't all on edge.

Alvin and Theodore were panting heavily as they tried to navigate their way through the sea of bones.

"I can take a turn for one of you two," I said to them sympathetically.

Theodore looked at me as if considering my offer, but Alvin answered for both of them: " _We're fine_ ," he huffed.

Eventually, we had made the painstaking climb up to the top of the giant glass table. Every step we took left a deep paw-print in the thick dust that covered the table. Alvin and Theo took the earliest opportunity to carefully set Simon down, creating a cloud of dust around him, and then began to hunch over with their hands on their knees, gasping for air.

I walked over to where Simon had earlier brushed off some of the dust at the center of the table, followed by my sisters. I put my right hand down where his had been, prompting the entire table to come to life as a computer screen. Everyone gasped, except for Alvin and I who had seen this before.

"Run system diagnostics," I commanded out loud.

The computer had a delayed reaction to what I told it, but then seemed to load for a few moments before responding with, " _diagnostic results are ready. Would you like me to state them out loud?_ " in the same voice as the motherboard of our own ship.

"Yes," I said.

There was once again a delayed reaction before she said, " _power is at a critical 21%. Station's temperature is currently at -2 degrees fahrenheit. Current living inhabitants are 0 out of 131. Current air-tight breaches in following buildings: greenhouse. Sentry guns A, B, C, D current ammo count: 0 rounds. All military vehicles accounted for. Omortson space shuttle not found on radar._ "

My eyes widened. "Where was the last known location of the space shuttle?"

Another delay as the machine was comprehending what I said. Then a loading screen. Finally, we were given an overhead view of the Omortson station. Suddenly the screen began scrolling to the right, just past what looked like a giant red mountain, until it rested on the opposite side of it.

Alvin looked at the table thoughtfully. " _That's the mountain where we found the eggs_ ," he said.

"Reason the the shuttle being at this location?" I asked out loud.

" _Unkown_."

"Damn it," I cursed.

" _So it's just on the other side of a giant Martian nest_ ," Brittany muttered.

"Ok," I said confidently, "here's what we have to do: we have to get this station back up and running again. This place is going to have to be our hideout for a while. That means Alvin," I turned to the eldest Chipmunk to give him specific directions, "you need dust off every single last solar panel. We need maximum power."

Alvin's jaw dropped. " _How many are there_?" he asked me.

Suddenly, the computer piped up, " _there are exactly 36 solar panels_. _Each one is exactly six feet long by ten feet wide_. _Each one is currently returning less than ten percent of potential power._ "

Alvin didn't look happy. " _I'm going to be out there all by myself_?"

"I'm afraid so," I responded to him, shrugging. "Theodore, I'm going to need you to work on unpacking the rover. Everything, including the weapons, food, and medical supplies needs to be in this room ASAP."

Theodore, who looked like he was still catching his breath from carrying Simon the last trip, could only nod at me.

"I'll be searching this whole station for anything we can use to keep ourselves alive." I turned to speak to the table, "can I have detailed blueprints for every aspect of the station please?"

After a few seconds, the computer obliged.

I scrolled through each of the maps of the military base that the computer had produced for me, including each building, each floor, air vents, wiring, etc. "I'll be using all this to put together a plan of defense that's gonna hold off the Martians if they discover us." I then turned to Eleanor. "Ellie, you stay here, and tend to Simon and Brittany as best you can."

" _Wait a minute_!" Brittany objected. " _I can help too! I'm coming with one of you_!"

I looked her up and down. "I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea, Brit," I said as politely I can.

" _I promise_ ," she said, " _I'll be fine. I don't want to just sit here for hours_."

"Are you sure you're thinking about the baby?" I warned. I looked to Alvin for a little help but he only bit his lip.

" _Strenuous exercise on pregnant women can sometimes lead to birth defects and sometimes even miscarriages_ ," the table piped up out of nowhere.

" _Can someone shut that thing off_?" Brittany hissed. " _It's creeping me out that it's always listening to us_."

The screen acted as though it was comprehending what she said, then went black.

" _Look_ ," Brittany turned back to me. " _I'll be fine. And the baby will be fine. I just want to be helpful_."

I shrugged. "If you insist. In that case, you're coming with me."

She smiled as if satisfied.

"In the case of emergency," I continued, speaking at everyone, "I need everyone to get back here as quickly as possible. Even if we are attacked."

Eleanor shot me a confused look. " _If we're attacked wouldn't we want more than one way in or out_?"

"No," I replied sternly. "On September 11, 1297, Scottish rebels who were outnumbered over 2-1 defeated a strong British army at the bridge by the town of Stirling. They did this by forcing the Brits to cross the bridge two at a time in order to attack them." I pointed up at the small opening in the blockade. "If the Martians find us, then we're going to use the same basic strategy to survive."

 _Theodore's POV_

My muscles were sore. And I had a lot of trips back and forth between the rover and the control room to go.

I was told at least three different things before I had left. Eleanor asked me to get medical supplies first. Jeanette said to start with the weapons. Alvin warned me that food had better be ready by the time we got power and heat running in the base again.

I stared at the huge pile of supplies packed into the back of the rover through my glass helmet, not bothering to take it off because I wasn't planning on being there for very long. As I looked it over, dumbfounded, wondering where to start, tears started to well up in my eyes. All I wanted was Dave, and planet Earth. Why did I get greedy and agree to this trip? Why did _we_ get greedy. We were doing just fine the way things were. We weren't sweating it when it came to money. Why?

I sniffled and tried to cut the crying at a single tear or two. It was time to be tough again.

I finally decided that I wasn't going to worry about what type of supplies to carry first. All that mattered to me was that it was the easiest to grab off the top of the pile. Having decided that, I slung two rifles over my shoulders, crouched down stacked a big box of dehydrated food on top of an even bigger and heavier first aid kit. I squatted, slid my fingers underneath the bottom box, and stood up lifting both boxes with a giant exhale.

I gritted my teeth as these boxes were already tough to carry. This was going to be a long and painful job. Leaning backwards to make the load easier on my arms, I shuffled into the decompression chamber, then eventually into the garage. I trudged through yet another decompression chamber and back into the long dark hallways with the giant green lockers.

By the time I rounded the corner to be aimed at by two of the sentry guns, I was already sweating. Why did Jeanette assign this job to the most out of shape 'Munk? Probably because she didn't want to do it herself. I rolled my eyes as I kept pushing my tired legs forward. I was already bracing myself for the toughest part.

And when I finally did walk up to the base of the giant blockade, it was all I could do for a moment to stare it up and down, thoroughly intimidated, wondering how I was gonna scale this with no hands. I finally just took a deep breath, lifted up my foot, pressed it against the best option for a foothold I could see, lifted myself up and caught myself with my other foot on the next highest edge that was sticking out of the wall. Don't get me wrong; a giant pile of random metal pieces would normally be an easy climb for a chipmunk, even me. But giving me all of the extra weight to carry and not being able to use my hands made it very tricky and very painfully exhausting.

I struggled for air as I continued to push upwards. When I finally made it to the hole near the top, I set the boxes down inside and sat down to take a rest, with my feet dangling over the edge. I was taking fast and deep breaths, dearly wishing I could wipe the sweat off of my forehead. If only I didn't need to have my helmet on.

Finally, I caught my breath and forced myself to keep going. _Almost there_ , I told myself.

Somehow, hunching down to not hit my head while at the same time avoiding jagged edges that could poke holes into my suit turned out to be the most strenuous part of the whole trip. At the other end of the tunnel, I was able to see Eleanor, still sitting on the table, staring down at my motionless older brother, Simon. He was still on the stretcher, and it looked as though he hadn't moved a muscle since I had last seen him.

Eleanor suddenly looked up and smiled and waved at me. I waved back and began to carefully climb down the wall of metal parts.

After that, and navigating through the three foot-high sea of human remains, I finally was able to climb up to the table. I set down the boxes first and then both guns that were around my shoulders with giant sighs of relief.

Eleanor suddenly looked kind of put off when she saw what I had brought with me. " _What happened to 'medical supplies first'_?" she asked scornfully.

"You weren't the only one who told me something like that," I muttered, unable to lift my hands from my knees as I was so tired.

She rolled her eyes, lifted the box of dehydrated food off of the first aid kit, opened the kit and began shifting around the contents with her hands as if searching for something. She finally pulled out some gauze and some tape and walked over to Simon with it. She crouched down, lifted his head and carefully began removing the tape and blood-soaked gauze that had been covering his empty eye socket. The sight of it made me want to be sick, but she didn't seem fazed. She gently placed a new piece of gauze over it, which instantly began soaking in blood. Eleanor unwound and ripped off a long piece of tape more harshly than she had to, in order to remind me that she was frustrated. She finally began wrapping it around his head so as to keep the gauze in place.

I sighed and walked over to her as she finished up. I placed a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to freeze, then ease up and look up at me longfully.

I lowered my head and pressed my helmet against hers so that our eyes were as close to each others as possible.

" _I'm sorry_ ," she whispered. " _Thank you for getting me these things_."

"I love you," I said.

Hearing this, she took a deep breath and suddenly broke down and began to sob.

"What is it?" I asked her.

She struggled to answer me through her sobbing. " _Th-theo baby_ ," she finally managed to say. " _I don't think we're ever going to get off of this planet. We shouldn't have dumped that cyanide water_."

Hearing this from her put a lump in my throat. What she was basically saying was, "we should have committed suicide painlessly while we had the chance." She didn't have any kind of hope that we'd get out of here.

"First of all," I said, "no matter what happens I'm glad we didn't take those pills. 'Cause it meant I got to spend even more time with you. And every second with you is precious to me."

Her face cheered up just a little.

I stood up and started walking towards the edge of the table. "And if I have anything to say about it," I continued, "I'll be spending time with you until we've both grown old."

And with that it was time for me to get back to the rover. One trip down. At least ten more to go.

 _Brittany's POV_

The Marines' sleeping quarters was like a scene from a horror movie. It was dark, forcing Jeanette and I to pull out flashlights. It was essentially a series of long hallways where bunk beds lined up on both walls. The sub-zero temperature had a drastic effect on the place; frost had covered almost everything, from bed sheets and pillows to the wooden desks to the framed pictures and other items on top of those desks. It was haunting to think that this was where an entire squad of people had once slept together, and now they were all dead.

I stopped walking by one of the beds that had caught my eye. I hopped up onto the bottom bunk, and then turned and jumped onto the desk that sat right beside it. On top of it was a framed picture that was kind of hard to make out because of the frost, as well as a pair of dog tags.

" _Brittany_!" My sister, Jeanette, scolded me. " _What're you doing_?"

Ignoring her, I picked up the dog tags and shone my light onto them. "Velazquez," I said out loud. I then turned to the picture. I rubbed my forearm on the glass of the frame, trying to wipe away some of the frost. After which, I could make out the picture a lot better. My light revealed a beautiful young woman crouching on a well-kept lawn in front of a pretty but small yellow house. She was posing with a well-built man with a thick beard as well as two young kids. It looked like something out of a catalogue or something.

 _But which one of these two was the Marine_? I thought to myself. Having to know, I opened up the drawer below me.

" _That's enough_!" Jean protested again. " _You can't go digging through dead peoples' things, Brit_."

I rolled my eyes. "I just have to know if 'T. Velazquez' was a guy or a girl. That's not disrespectful, is it?"

She looked unsure as I began shuffling through the clothes in the drawer. At first it was hard to tell, as the clothes looked pretty unisex. I finally checked one of the tags, which said "women's medium" on it. That settled it.

But as I carefully set the shirt down, I was surprised when my hand hit something hard with a _clank_. There was something underneath her folded clothes. Confused, I began digging through the drawer until I finally got to the very bottom. "Uh oh," I said.

" _What is it_?" Jeanette asked.

"Looks like Mrs. Velazquez had a little bit of a drinking problem," I said smugly as I attempted to lift the fifth of Crown Royal whiskey that I had just found.

Jeanette scoffed at me. " _That's it. Stop this right now! We've got work to do_."

I shrugged and closed the drawer, after which I hopped down onto the floor where Jeanette stood impatiently.

We moved on, eventually making it out of the sleeping quarters and into the armory. The weapon stash itself was locked behind a large wall of solid steel mesh that had a gate smack in the middle that required a key. Fortunately, there was an opening underneath the gate that was just tall enough for us to crawl under. Once we were on our feet inside of the stash, my sister looked back at the mesh wall thoughtfully. I could see the gears inside her head turning.

"What is it?" I asked her.

" _I wonder if we could move this mesh somehow. Like in front of the sentry guns_?"

I looked at her in confusion. "How the hell are we supposed to do that?"

" _Not sure yet_ ," she said quietly, obviously in deep thought. " _I think it could come in real handy, though._ "

After a few seconds of staring at the edges of the huge mesh wall, she finally turned my way and tried to change the subject.

" _Have you thought of any names for the baby_?"

I was still a little uncomfortable talking about this, but I figured I might as well go along. "No, not really. I figured that would kind of be a group effort." I forced a chuckle as I was obviously referring to Alvin.

She raised an eyebrow at me. " _Have you spoken to him about all of this_?"

"N-no not really," I said nervously. "I think it's something we both kinda want to avoid. At least until we get back to Earth." I paused for a moment before saying, "that is, _if_ we get back to Earth."

" _I don't want to hear that kind of talk_ ," Jeanette huffed. " _Avoiding the subject isn't going to solve anything. And pretending it's not even there is worse_."

This struck a bad cord with me. "Who are you, my mother?"

" _I_ …" she was clearly taken aback by how harsh I was. " _I'm just trying to help, Brit. You're going to start showing soon. And I think you should try to take it easy as much as possible._ "

I looked down at where my stomach was, imagining this already uncomfortable Mars suit becoming even tighter and less comfortable as the baby inside of me grew. I finally looked back up at my sister and pointed a warning finger at her. "We're dropping this," I said sternly.

She rolled her eyes. " _Fine_."

We then began searching around the armory for a bit. It was pretty well organized, but it was still tough to find what we were looking for. Everything in there was designed for a full-grown human being and wasn't much used to us. We were after one specific thing though.

Finally, Jeanette piped up from the section across from me: " _I found it_!"

I dropped what I was looking at and ran over to her. She was standing right next to a pile of boxes, each one as big as the two of us combined. They each had in big bolded letters the words, " **SENTRY GUN AMMO** ".

 **Will our favorite Chipmunk crew get the Omortson base back up and running? Will they be able to hide out or will they be discovered? Will Brittany and Alvin finally come to grips with their parenthood? Will ANY of them make it back to Earth Alive?**

 **Stay tuned to find out! Thanks so much for bearing with me this far… I promise the payoff will be worth it!**

 **Before you click out of this story, be sure to hit that review button and let me know exactly what your thoughts are so far. Whether you loved certain parts, didn't love certain parts, or have some ideas for upcoming chapters, I'm all ears! Also be sure to hit that favorite and/or follow button so that you can get updated every time I post a new chapter.**

' **Till I hit ya with the next chapter, I hope you have a great rest of your day!**


	16. Cleanse the System Part 2

**Hope you all enjoyed your New year's eve! Hope 2018 is treating you well so far.**

 **Make sure to read this chapter and show support! You guys have been awesome so far so I'm not really worried.**

 **Chapter 16: Cleanse the System (Part 2)**

 _Alvin's POV_

"Shit," I cursed under my breath.

Having just barely allowing myself to feel like I was kind of close to being done, my first sigh of relief had just been interrupted by the distant but unmistakable signs of what was left of the Martian pack stomping back my way. I could see dust rising in the distance, over the top of the solar panels that I had been busy dusting off.

With the solar field being directly in between the approaching Martians and the mountain where there nest was, I started frantically searching around for the best place to hide. I couldn't run inside, as then I might be seen and it would put everyone in danger.

I began to breathe quicker and quicker knowing that my time was ticking if I didn't find a way out of this. Looking around, the dirt all around me was level. There wasn't a single rock, ditch or hole to hide. As the Martians got louder, I could hear them snarl and howl at each other. I took a deep breath and turned in the direction of the single metal leg that was holding one of the solar panels several feet up in the air. Taking the rusty thing in both hands, I hoisted myself upwards and then wrapped my legs around it as well.

Grunting with every little bit of progress I made, I began to climb.

Eventually I had made it all the way to the top of the stem, just underneath the face of the panel. Without wasting time, I grabbed one of the cross beams and pulled up my legs so that not one of my limbs was dangling down. After that, it was all I could do to turn around so that I was facing the ground and wait. The aliens were fast-approaching. I was gripping the cross bars for dear life, holding myself in the air, panting.

I could hear the pack of killers marching their way angrily through the solar panel field. They were growling at each other and pushing into each other as they went, not being at all sneaky. I took one last deep breath before the massive queen trudged angrily into my line of sight. She was a few steps ahead of her minions, who followed her cautiously. She walked across my line of sight, past the solar panel that I was hiding on, totally unaware of me.

Her soldiers seemed not to notice me either, as they trudged along acting completely disgruntled. They had likely seen dozens of their friends, siblings, whatever blown up in an instant. These were the survivors. And they seemed pissed. Their mannerisms told me that if i were caught, they would make damn sure that I died slowly.

Hanging several feet above their head, I was just waiting for one of those freaks to look up even just a little bit. It wouldn't end well for me.

Finally, the last two stragglers, pacing shoulder to shoulder in order to catch up to the rest of the pack, came into view. They jogged until they were directly underneath me, when suddenly the one on the right accidentally stepped on the other's front paw. The hurt Martian lifted his paw off the ground and hissed at his buddy. The one on the right responded by snapping his jaw just inches away from the other's face. Still nursing a sore paw, the other backed off and went right back to running to catch up to the group, followed closely by the other one.

I waited in my hiding spot for what felt like an hour, panting, eyes wide with shock that I had just made it out of that situation. I stayed up there listening for their marching and angry growls to get quieter. Eventually, I got up the courage to once again wrap myself around the single pole that held up the panel and climb down just enough to make sure the coast was clear. The Martians were nowhere in sight. To my relief, I realized that they had gone back into their fortress in the mountain.

I slid down the rest of the way like a fireman, landing gracefully on my feet. It was time to get back to work.

As I busied myself dusting off the remaining solar panels, I had plenty of time to think. Think about my brother, think about getting off of this planet, think about Brittany, think about the baby. I suddenly caught myself daydreaming about being a father. I liked to imagine myself as the fun, cool dad who was always making his kid laugh.

Was that what I was really going to be like, though? Was being a father going to bring the worst out in me? How would I know when to be stern and when to be soft? At first I told myself that I wasn't going to be like Dave, but then I realized that we had all turned out just fine and that Dave had actually done a fine job. I just didn't think his parenting style would match well with mine. But then again, how could I know that? Having a child could totally change me, forever.

None of this would even matter if we didn't make it out of here. I shuddered, as I couldn't stand the thought of dying on this ugly rock of a planet, especially not with my baby inside of her. I'd never forgive myself if I made it back to Earth and she didn't. I'd definitely give my life to saver hers.

I paused and ran this scenario through my head. _Would I really_? Yes, I finally assured myself that I would. I'd sacrifice myself for my family. If it came to that, of course.

At this point, I was surprised to realize that I only had a few more solar panels to clean. I smiled and shook my head, relief kind of flooding me over. There sure was something about being surrounded by red emptiness that allowed you to get trapped in your own thoughts.

Letting out one more sigh, thinking back to everything that had gone through my brain just moments ago, all I could do is mutter one word: "shit…"

 _Eleanor's POV_

I wrapped the replacement bandage around Simon's empty eye socket one more time. Since Theo's first trip to the rover and back, he had brought me many more useful items, including disinfectant, pain killers and even tylenol (the tylenol was for me). He had, of course, also continued to pile up the stash of weapons that we had brought with us. He had also piled up our food stock, but I wasn't able to fix anything up yet as he was saving the hydrating machine for the last trip.

I didn't mean to freak out on him before. This kind of stress would take a toll on anybody, an it took a toll on me. I just hoped he knew that. Everyone was counting on me to keep Simon alive, but I wasn't given the proper tools to do it with. I wasn't even given the proper training. I'm not a surgeon, I just know how to use a first aid kit properly. There was so much pressure to nurse him back to health. I didn't even know if he was ever going to wake up again, to be perfectly honest.

Theodore was taking longer on this trip than he had on past trips, and I wondered what was taking so long. I knew that he had been getting more and more exhausted each time he had returned, but I still felt curious. I just hoped he was ok.

I looked down at our once-proud captain. What if I failed? The thought of it triggered a little hyperventilation inside of me. As I breathed harder and harder, oxygen became thinner and thinner inside of me and tears started welling up in my eyes. I sat down and clutched my helmet in my hands, wishing dearly that I could touch my head. I curled up in a ball position and began rocking back and forth, but that only made me feel a little better.

Not knowing what else to do, I quietly began to murmur a song to myself:

"Somewhere… out there…" I sang, "beneath the pale moonlight… someone's thinking of me… and loving me tonight…" I suddenly trailed off and giggled at the thought of Theodore all the way in the rover singing the next part of the duet, perfectly on cue. Realizing that was impossible, I continued: "somewhere out there… someone's saying a prayer… that we'll find one another… then meet somewhere out there…"

I kept going: "and even though I know how very far apart we are… it helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star… and when the night will start to sing some lonesome lullaby… it helps to think we're sleeping underneath the same big sky… somewhere… out there… if love can see me through… then we'll be together… somewhere out there… out where dreams… come true…"

As I finished singing I was relieved to realize I was feeling better. But that was cut short by Simon's body suddenly stirring to life.

 _Simon's POV_

As if waking up from a long and deep sleep the night after drinking, I slowly came back into consciousness. I groaned as I tried to lift my head. I had a splitting headache, my shoulder felt sore, my leg still felt ginger as hell which I expected because I had felt it snap in the air vents. But my biggest surprise was when I tried to open my eyes, only my right one would open.

Eleanor ran to my side. " _Simon!_ " she exclaimed. " _Thank God! How do you feel?_ "

I winced even as she gently touched my bad shoulder. "Not good," I responded through gritted teeth. "I feel dehydrated. Where are we?"

" _The Omortson base_ ," she said, " _we had to blow up the Caesar just to get away_."

I realized that this was the giant computer table that I had been on top of before. And I knew without looking that that meant the surrounding floor was littered with human skeletons. I was just trying to process all of this.

"Is there gauze over my left eye?" I asked her.

Her smile left her face so quick it was like I had just smacked her. Her eyes darted to the floor to avoid eye contact with me. " _Um, well, Simon there's something I'm going to have to tell you._ "

My heart dropped as deep down I knew what she was about to say.

" _Simon I… I'm sorry but… I did everything I could but…_ "

"Eleanor just get it out. Please?"

" _I couldn't Save your left eye, Simon._ _I'm sorry there was just too much damage. It's gone_." She looked like she wanted to break down and cry. " _I didn't even have the supplies necessary to preserve it. It's just… gone._ "

I turned away from her. "I need a moment," I muttered.

Without saying another word she stood up and walked to the other side of the table, pretending to count some medical supplies.

I sat, hunched over with my elbows on my knees. I was staring directly at the huge blockade that had failed to keep out the Martians. Every single what if went thru my mind in just a few seconds. What if this affects my ability to lead us out of here? What if we make it out anyway? What about all of the things that I won't be able to do anymore because of bad depth perception? Will all of the children on the streets stop to stare at me because of my eye patch? What if Jeanette doesn't love me anymore because she thinks I'm ugly?

I sighed. "Fuck this place," I said out loud. I heard Eleanor pause, then go back to work.

Suddenly, my little brother Theodore appeared through the tunnel at the top of the blockade carrying a pile of supplies. The first thing he did was scan the table, before he finally realized that I had woken up. " _Simon!_ " he yelled down at me with glee. " _You're alright!_ "

I chuckled. "I guess you can call it that," I called up to him.

Without hesitating, he began carefully navigating the path down the blockade with the pile of stuff still in his hands. He made his way down to the bone-riddled floor. He was clearly in a hurry as he dropped a thing or two on his way towards the table that we were sitting on. He did eventually climb up to us, and the first thing he did was drop the stuff carefully and run over to where I was standing waiting for him. I spread my arms to embrace him in a hug but he almost knocked me over with how forcefully he ran into me and wrapped his arms around me.

" _I thought you were gone for good_ ," he whispered.

"That makes two of us. Where are the others?"

He broke away from me. Through tears of joy, he told me, " _Jean and Brittany are exploring the base. And Alvin's outs-_ "

He suddenly stopped, prompting me to look behind myself. Alvin had just stood up from the hole in the blockade. He looked like he was covered in red dust, which he was actively trying to brush off if his shoulders with a huff. He took a while to look down at the computer table, but as soon as he did he seemed overjoyed.

" _Simon! Oh my God_!"

I laughed.

Alvin rushed to meet us on the tabletop as quickly as his legs would carry him. The athletic one of the group, he was with us in what felt like no time at all. Like Theo, he hugged me so hard that it actually hurt. But I didn't care.

" _How was being unconscious_?" he joked with me.

"You know, oddly enough, I don't quite recall," I joked along.

As if on cue, Brittany emerged from the blockade tunnel. She gasped as she saw me immediately, and then turned back around to wait for Jeanette who was right behind her. As soon as Jeannie saw me her jaw dropped. She reached to cover her mouth with her hand but she seemed surprised when she couldn't because of her helmet.

Quickly shaking that off, she laughed and also began running down the blockade with Brittany following behind her going just a little slower.

Jeanette seemed like she was totally unable to control herself as she eventually flung herself onto the top of the table, lifted herself onto her feet a ran over to me. She gently placed her helmet against mine, knowing full well that I probably had a headache. And then she just held it there, looking into my one good eye as if trying to convince herself that I was really back.

Brittany eventually made it over to where our group was huddled together, and she also embraced Alvin in a big hug.

" _I love you_." Jeanette whispered at me.

My heart fluttered. I guess that answered my last question.

She suddenly cleared her throat and once again stood up. " _Did everyone complete their assignments_?" She said aloud.

" _Just unloaded my last load of stuff,_ " Theodore said, puffing out his chest.

" _Yeah,_ " Alvin chimed in, " _and those solar panels are all cleared._ "

" _Excellent,_ " Jeanette replied cheerfully. " _Brittany and I found some very useful hardware while we were scavenging the base, but I'll fill you all in after this._ "

"After what?" I asked.

She looked down at me with that smart-ass smirk on her face that I've always loved. She cleared her throat once again and said, " _computer, can you hear me?_ "

The screen that made up the table we were standing on suddenly came to life.

" _Good_ ," Jean continued. " _Power capacity should be much higher, now. I want you to cleanse the system._ "

The computer paused to understand the question, then responded with, " _are you sure you wish to cleanse the system?_ "

There was no hesitation from Jeanette: " _Yes_."

" _Very well,_ " the table responded. " _Cleansing the system._ "

Suddenly, whatever life this place had seemed to die. The humming in the walls ceased altogether. We all held our breaths, as it became pitch black. The computer screen shut down. There was nothing for a solid few seconds. For a moment I was afraid that we had just killed this base completely.

Then, out of nowhere, the computer screen came back to life. Followed by every single light bulb in the room. The humming in the walls came back.

" _System is cleansed successfully_ ," the computer told us. " _Power intake is at 93%. All base systems functional. Heat levels currently rising to automatic standards. Emergency mode is deactivated._ "

We all jumped for joy, except for me for obvious reasons. It felt so good to finally have a victory, of any kind. Pretty soon we were gonna be able to take these suits off and, not that I was very hungry, but we could eat.

"Now what did you guys find?" I asked Jeannie.

She smirked at me again and turned back down to the computer. " _Show me a blueprint of the entire Omortson station._ "

The screen took a moment to process what she had just said, before finally almost the entire table became an overhead structural view of the base. Almost like a giant floor plan for a house. Jeanette used her hands to scroll around and zoom in before she finally said, " _there!_ "

She zoomed us in on a small portion of the main building of the _Omortson_.

She pointed at a room on the screen. " _This is us_ ," she said. " _And this corridor right here is the only way in_ ," she traced her hand through the blueprint to show us what she was talking about. " _Now, there are these two intersecting corridors here and here, but both of them hit dead ends and you would have to already be within striking distance of the blockade, which is right here, in order to get into them._ "

Alvin interrupted. " _Is all you two did that whole time just go down hallways_?" he asked with a huff.

" _Pretty much,_ " Brit replied sarcastically giving him a playful punch on the shoulder.

" _Hush,_ " Jeanette said impatiently, " _that's not the point. The point is that the Marine's definitely knew all of this when they set up sentry guns here…_ " she had to walk from spot to spot to illustrate this, " _...and here. And then set up the blockade._ "

"Where are you going with this, Jean?" I asked.

" _Look,_ " she took a deep breath. " _As long as we can deter them from getting through this corridor, we'll be safe!_ "

"Cause that worked out so well for the Marines, right?" I said, sounding more cynical than I truly meant to be.

" _But they went about it all wrong,_ " she responded, matter-of-factly. " _My plan isn't to barricade them out altogether. My plan is to invite them in, but only in small intervals._ "

We all looked at her in confusion.

She continued, trying to explain herself. " _We found some meshed wire, perfect for fences. It's too thin for them to just go thru. I say we put up a wall to wall fence here… right in front of sentry guns A and B. And another wall to wall fence here… right in front of sentry guns C and D. The Martians will be just busy enough trying to chew through the wire that the guns will be able to take them down more efficiently._ "

"And what about once they get through all of that? What then?"

She suddenly pointed up to the top of the blockade. " _That tunnel. All six of us will have our barrels pointed down to the other side. They'll obviously be trying to climb through the same way they came last time, don't you agree? We can pick them off one by one._ "

After a moment of thinking about it, I shrugged and said, "I suppose it's as good as any plan we have right now." I suddenly realized we had a fully functional NASA computer right under our feet. "Has anyone tried to establish a connection with NASA headquarters on this thing? Maybe we could get a message to Dave!"

" _H-has no one told him yet?_ " Jeanette asked, looking around at the others.

"Told me what?" I folded my arms in confusion.

Jeanette sighed, then grabbed her arm nervously, not really looking me in the eye. " _Simon, I have a lot to catch you up on about NASA. But the bottom line is, they won't be passing any messages along to Dave._ "

 **And that was chapter 16! Sorry it was slow, and sorry it took so long to get out to you guys! Hit a little bit of writer's block…**

 **Anyway as always if you enjoyed it and you haven't yet, be SURE to hit that fav/follow button(s) so you can get the alert every time I update the story. And no matter what your opinion was of this chapter PLEASE let me know in a review. Your guys' honest opinions are what keep this story spinning.**

' **Till next chapter!**


	17. Breathing Room

**I'm sitting here, at my desk, like I always do, listening to chipmunked music as I write this (btw, highly recommend the Youtube channel "Chipmunks go to MTV"). And I realized that it had been a long time since I've ever actually seen any of the movies or episodes of Alvin and the Chipmunks. For inspiration, I went back and checked some of them out.**

 **I really hope you guys are liking this story so far, because it's going to get darker. It's also going to start picking up with the action soon, though. Hopefully the intensity doesn't scare too many of you away ;).**

 **Anyway, be sure to read and review once you're all done!**

 **Chapter 17: Breathing Room**

 _Jeanette's POV_

Under no circumstances were we going to take any breaks until I felt like our defense system was built exactly the way I had envisioned in my head. We had all gathered in the armory, just outside of the wire mesh wall. Alvin and Theodore both had ion torches in their hands with which to melt and cut through the wire. We all just kind of stood there for a few moments, staring at it, not really knowing how to start.

I looked down at my environment reader. The temperature inside of the base had already climbed back up to 67 degrees fahrenheit. "Well," I said, "this should make things easier," as I began the process of taking off my Mars helmet.

As the others only realized in that moment that it had gotten so much warmer, they began to follow my lead and completely remove the suits from their bodies. This left us all in pretty much just underwear, but even though it was still kind of cold we didn't really care. It was better than baking alive in those suits, and besides even though no one ever admitted it, it was pretty refreshing to actually get good looks at each others' bodies after so long. The boys were all in boxers and tank tops and the girls were in spandex with sports bras.

I caught Alvin staring Brittany up and down and I had to hold in a giggle.

"Ok," I spoke up, "best way to keep warm is to get to work. Come on, now!"

And with that, Alvin and Theo walked up to the fence with their torches ready.

"How should we cut it?" Theodore asked me.

"Four even pieces," I said. "Start here. Bottom left corner. We can use every single little bit of this stuff so try to be precise."

Alvin rolled his eyes. "If I had a dollar for every time you've stated the obvious, Jeannie, I wouldn't have had to agree to this stupid trip in the first place."

"Watch the attitude, Alvin," Simon scolded his brother.

Instead of cooling down, Alvin jabbed back: "You wanna do my job?" He held out his torch in Simon's direction, prompting him to take it. "Be my guest."

Simon grabbed his arm and awkwardly looked at the floor with his one good eye. I could see the wheels turning inside his head. He had considered it, but he was too afraid that he would screw it up with only one eye.

Alvin could obviously tell he had cut his brother deep. "Si… I'm-" he trailed off as Brittany grabbed his shoulder solemnly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

Simon suddenly seemed to shake out of his trance as he put on a stone cold face, obviously trying to hide the pain. "Sorry for what? Last I checked, I'm captain of this expedition and you're the operations officer. That means things like cutting through this fence are your job, not mine. Understood?"

Alvin hesitated. The whole room fell uncomfortably silent, before Alvie finally just turned back towards the wired fence and muttered, "aye."

After that, he and Theodore wasted no time in heating up their torches. Starting at different spots on the fence, they were actually making relatively quick work of cutting out sections of the wired mesh. As these sections would hit the ground, it was the rest of our job to carry or drag them all the way back to the first sentry gun.

After a few trips back and forth, the opportunity seemed right to try and speak to Simon one on one.

"Simon!" I called over to him from across the armory. "Help me carry this section back."

 _Simon's POV_

I blinked, gazing in Jeanette's direction. At first, I couldn't even really see what section of fence she was talking about. She was pointing in the direction of the floor, but it took me a moment to realize that the section which appeared to be a foot or two behind her was actually right below her finger.

I hesitated but walked over cautiously to where I saw her standing, until suddenly I felt her warm breath in my face and I stopped myself as quickly as possible. I blinked again and realized I ad almost accidentally ran right into her. I couldn't tell if she knew what had just happened, but she was quick to move on as she hunched over and grabbed ahold of one side of the portion of the fence.

She then looked up at me. "What're you waiting for, Si?" she asked me playfully.

I bit my lip and maneuvered my way to the other end of the mesh. I bent over and reached my hand for the edge of the wire. Once the tip of my fingers were touching the floor, I tried to scoop up the bottom of the wire. But to my surprise, I hadn't even touched it. I had missed.

I looked back up at Jeanette, embarrassed. She had definitely noticed this time. She gave me a sympathetic look, but I was still just embarrassed.

This entire trip I had been wearing specialized contacts, as my eyesight was never very good from the beginning. My one good eye still had one in, but my lack of ability to perceive depth was making everything kind of blurry. It was extremely hard for me to tell the distance away from me that an object was. One moment I'll be looking at something or someone, like Jeannie for instance, convinced she's far away from me and then I'll look away for even just a split second. But when I look back in her direction all of a sudden she'll be right in my face.

All of this was something I was going to have to get used to, and fast.

Trying to act like it didn't happen, I set my attention back to the wire. Watching carefully, I pressed my hands palm up on the ground and slowly slid them forward until I felt them both touch the wire. I then forced them underneath until I could grasp the mesh tightly.

"Ok," Jeanette said, "three, two, one."

We both stood up at the same time, lifting the mesh which was surprisingly heavy.

"I'll go first," she said.

"Fine by me," I tried to respond nonchalantly.

I followed her as we carried the section of the fence around the corner towards sentry guns A and B, doing my best not to run into anything.

Once we were clear of the hearing distance of any of the others, Jeanette asked me, "how's the eye?"

I shrugged, trying to keep up with her pace. "Healing ok, I guess. Haven't really spoken to Eleanor about it yet. Why?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "I meant your good eye."

"Fine," I said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Look, I'm not the only one who's noticed you struggling to not bump into things," she said, lowering her voice.

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Jean," I snapped at her. I then pointed at the gauze that was covering my right eye. "See this? This means I only have one eye now. It's going to be an adjustment."

"There's no need to get pissed at me, Simon," she snapped back at me. "I'm not the reason that happened to you. I'm only trying to help."

I sighed. "Ok, how do you want to help me?"

"I- I don't know," she admitted after hesitating. "I guess I just wanted to make you feel better."

"Just talking to you makes me feel better," I said, smiling at her.

She giggled.

I suddenly noticed that Jeanette was just a few steps away from backing right into sentry gun B. "Watch it!" I exclaimed.

The smile fell off of her face as she suddenly snapped her head around. She then looked back at me with a sly look on her face. "That gun is several feet away from me, Simon," she chuckled.

"Oh," I said, embarrassed once again.

The moment that we had set the mesh down on the ground, Jeanette spoke up again. "Look, I don't want to sound too blount here, but we need to talk about leadership."

"What about it?" I asked defensively even though I knew damn well where she was going with this.

"Simon, look at me," she snapped, prompting me to look her in the eyes. "You're not fit to take back over as captain. You've done a great job so far of taking it easy, I just want to make sure you're still planning on just focusing on yourself."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"I… I just think that in an emergency situation you might struggle to lead us out ok. That's all."

"Ok," I groaned. "You clearly did an ok job while I was out. I'll stay out of your way."

"I didn't totally mean that," she admitted, grabbing her shoulder. "I still need your help. I just need you following my lead is all."

I suddenly grabbed her waist with both hands and pull her closer, causing her to look at me in surprise. "You have my full support," I whispered before pulling her in for a kiss. The moment our faces locked, I didn't want to pull away. And I could tell that she didn't either. We stood there for a good few moments making out and moaning as we felt each other up. This was undoubtedly the best part of the trip so far for me.

Suddenly the sound of scraping metal caused us to pull away, as Brittany had just rounded the corner towards us. She grinned slyly at us, obviously realizing what we were just up to. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked sarcastically.

"Brittany!" Jeanette exclaimed. "Are you sure you should be carrying that thing all the way over here by yourself?"

Brittany rolled her eyes. "What are you, my mother?"

"No," Jeanette said, shaking her head. "The only mother around here is you."

My eyes went straight down to Brittany's belly. There seemed something off about it. I leaned into Jeanette and whispered, "is Brittany showing or is it my poor eyesight again?"

"No, she definitely is," she whispered back.

Brittany suddenly stopped moving towards us and gave us a very suspicious look. "What?" she said.

"You've got a little beer belly," Jeanette giggled.

"Surprise," Brittany snapped, rolling her eyes, "it's what pregnant girls do. Now come on, we almost have the rest of the fence."

 _Alvin's POV_

It felt like it had taken forever, but the second mesh wall was almost finished. The first one, in front of sentry guns A and B, had a giant learning curve in terms of using our torches to weld the pieces of fence back together in order to build that thing up almost all the way to the ceiling. But Theodore and I, as well as the others, had found a good system.

Every time we moved, either sentry gun C or D would suddenly snap its barrell in our direction, and follow us for a little bit before it would move on to one of the other chipmunks. We had gotten used to it, obviously, though we knew that if these things were armed and loaded that we'd have an unimaginable amount of giant bullet holes in our bodies.

"Man," I chuckled as Theodore and I slowly worked towards each other from opposite corners with our torches. "If those things were loaded, our corpses wouldn't even be recognizable."

"Let's hope so," Theo responded through gritted teeth. "We need them to be on top of their games against the Martians."

Theodore and I finally met at a single spot. Our torch flames met as the last strand of this section of mesh was fully welded on.

I looked down at the others, standing and watching us on the ground. We were several feet above them. Much closer to the ceiling than the floor. "How does it look?" I called down to them.

"Serviceable," Jeanette called back up. "Come on down and take a look for yourself!"

With that, Theo and I started climbing down the wire wall that we had just created. The sentry guns followed us all the way down. It was almost like they were so desperate for something to shoot. Once we had both touched the floor, we walked over to join the others, who were standing behind the sentries and staring at our second line of defense.

It wasn't as pretty as we had thought when putting it together. It looked pretty patchy and thrown together, but it was pretty strong and it reached almost all the way up to the ceiling. There was overlapping in some areas, and it just overall didn't look professionally done. But that wasn't the point.

"Now we just have to load the guns," Simon said.

We started with sentry gun C. And it was a group effort. I had to climb up to the top of the tripod that was holding the weapon above the ground to unlock the ammo cartridge. Then I needed help loading the damn thing up from Theo and Eleanor.

We repeated the process for sentry gun D, just like we had the other three, and then we stood safely just behind the watchful eye of each weapon's infrared motion-detecting scanner.

"Are they live right now?" Eleanor asked in a shaky tone.

"No," Jeanette muttered, shaking her head. "We have to activate them from within the control room."

"Are you sure?" Ellie didn't sound convinced, as she was staring intently at sentry gun D to her right.

I slyly walked up behind her and grabbed both of her shoulders. "Only one way to find out."

Before I could do anything her survival instincts kicked in and she jumped out of my grasp. She looked at me in shock as I lost my self control and broke down in laughter. She huffed and stuck her middle finger at me.

Brittany rolled her eyes at my immaturity.

"Secure the BS, Alvin," Jeanette said, "we should get back to the control room."

Which was just fine by me.

 _Brittany's POV_

The pregnancy may have been affecting me at that point. But just a little bit, if any. At least, that's what I was telling myself.

The climb up to the top of the blockade seemed more daunting than ever with a big bulge in my belly. With that said, I wasn't going to let the others know that I was slowing down. One by one, we began climbing. I was going to bring up the rear, but Alvin insisted on going after me to make sure I was ok.

I did everything I could do keep up, but no matter how much effort I put in, it felt like I was falling behind. Alvin was being patient with me, clearly not trying to push me too hard.

I actually felt like I was doing ok, until I came up to a higher than usual ledge. I reached up and grabbed it, but the second I tried to pull myself up, I felt a sharp kick in my stomach.

"Ah!" I grimaced as I snapped back and hunched over, clutching my stomach with both hands.

Everyone above us stopped climbing and looked back to see what the commotion was about.

Alvin rushed to my side, holding me gently. "Are you ok?"

"Fine!" I said through gritted teeth.

"Is the baby ok?" he asked me.

"Do I look like a doctor?" I snapped at him.

"No," he said rolling his eyes. "Did you you feel him?"

"Yeah he just gave me a kick, that's all." I was starting to recover. "Who said it was a he?"

"N-no one. I didn't mean it like that."

Now that I was over the shock, I tried grabbing the ledge again. "Help me up?" I asked him nicely.

He chuckled and grabbed my waist. "Three, two, one!"

With his help, I made it to the top of the ledge and eventually to the mouth of the tunnel at the top. The others were up there waiting for us.

"You doing ok, Brit?" Eleanor asked me.

"Yeah I'm fine," I shrugged. "What're we waiting for?"

Jeanette looked at me, unsure, but finally turned and began to lead us one by one through the tunnel. Once again, Alvin brought up the rear to keep an eye on me.

Once Jeanette had finally made it through, I heard her gasp. This prompted the rest of us to rush our way through to see what it was that she saw. Simon was the first out, followed by Theo, and then Ellie, then myself.

Once we were all out and had caught what surprised Jeanette, none of us could believe it. There, sitting on top of the computer table in the middle of where we had set up our little camp spot, was the bottle of Crown Royal that I had found in Mrs. Velazquez's drawer. With a plastic straw sticking out of it no less.

"How?" Jeanette's confused question echoed through the room.

"Merry Christmas, gang!" came the response of a certain insufferable chipmunk who was just now stepping out of the tunnel to join us. "I carried it in here while you all were busy."

"How…" Jeanette trailed off before speaking again. "It doesn't matter. Put it back, now!"

Alvin looked shocked. "I was expecting a thank you."

"Thank you?" Simon scoffed. "We could all die here any day now and you're trying to get us drunk?"

"Uh, yeah. That's exactly _why_ I'm trying to get us all drunk." Alvin chuckled.

"I can't even drink," I protested. "I have a baby inside of me. Or did you forget?"

"I didn't forget, Brit," Alvin sighed. "I was just trying to find a way all of us could loosen up."

"And so you came up with a way which involves directly violating NASA's space code," Jeanette scolded.

Alvin pretended to think about this. "Well, last I checked, NASA sent us up here to die."

"So you want to make it easier for them?" Simon interrupted him.

"No," Alvin retorted. "I'm just saying that NASA code doesn't mean anything to us anymore. Them and all of their rules can kiss my ass."

Jeanette seemed to consider this before shaking her head. "Doesn't matter. It's still a bad idea. Take it back, right now."

Alvin shrugged. "Would if I could. But the Marine's sleeping quarters are on the other side of the hallway. And we just fenced ourselves in." He finished with a sly grin.

"Fine then," Jeanette scoffed, rolling her eyes. "In the morning, we'll all work on getting that thing out of here." She began to climb down, before turning back towards Alvin, "until then it stays right where it is."

Alvin had the look on his face like a kid who just convinced his mom to buy him a piece of candy at the store. I giggled at his childishness, before following the others down the blockade. I had a feeling that things were going to get real tonight…

 **And that's all for chapter 17! As always, if you haven't already, hit that fav/follow button so you can get the notification the second I post the next chapter!**

 **And of course, be SURE to leave a review and let me know exactly what you think. If you liked certain parts, didn't like certain parts, etc. I want to hear all about it! Praise and constructive criticism alike are totally welcome!**

 **I'll be hard at work tryna get chapter 18 out to y'all! Till then!**


	18. Drunk Actions are Sober Thoughts

**What's going on everybody! Not much to say before I start this chapter, but I do want to take the time to shout out everyone who's been reviewing! I put a lot of work into writing, editing, and updating this story so feedback of any kind makes me so happy!**

 **One disclaimer, though, is that this chapter may get a little more inappropriate than others.**

 **Chapter 18: Drunk Actions are Sober Thoughts**

 _Theodore's POV_

Ellie and I were fixing up rations for everyone for dinner. It kept us busy, because everyone else mostly seemed to be awkwardly sitting around. Simon was on his back, legs crossed, with a towel over his forehead covering his one good eye. Almost as if he preferred not being able to see at all to the imperfect vision he was doomed to deal with for the rest of his life. Jeanette busied herself by taking stock of all of our supplies and weapons, which she had already done once before and which was technically supposed to be my job anyway. Alvin and Brittany were spooning under a blanket on the opposite side of the camp as us.

"What do we have for seasoning?" I asked Eleanor.

"Pretty much zilch," she responded. "I guess we have some old bay left."

"That'll go well with the potatoes. How about that unrefrigerated ketchup?"

"Almost all gone."

I sighed. "This jobs gonna get tougher by the day."

Ellie turned and smiled at me. "I think the others will be grateful just to have food in their bellies. All we can do is our best to make it taste good."

"I guess," I said, rolling my eyes. "I wish we were cooking back at home. Where we could actually make something delicious. Like flanked steak. Or Chicken teriyaki."

"Stop it," she giggled. "You're making my tummy rumble."

Ignoring her, I continued, "or we could be cooking on that show that we were gonna sign the deal for. I don't even remember what it was gonna be called. We'd really get creative there! All kinds of soups and-"

I was interrupted by her playfully slugging me on my arm. "I said cut it out! I can't even concentrate anymore."

I turned my attention to the giant bottle of Crown Royal that was sitting right smack in the middle of our camp. "You ever drank before?" I asked my dream girl.

"No, not really. You?"

"No… Dave gave us some champagne every New Years. That's about it."

She looked at me, unsure. "What was it like?" she asked me.

"He never gave us very much," I admitted, shrugging. "I never felt any different, honestly. It just kind of makes your stomach feel warm."

"I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little curious," she told me.

As if on cue, Alvin walked up to us, still in his boxers, looking very much like he didn't want to get up from under that blanket. "Hey guys!" he said to us. "So, Brittany is really hungry. And she's wondering how soon it's gonna be ready."

"Soon," I responded.

"Like, how soon?" he pressed.

I rolled my eyes. "Pretty soon. Tell everyone to start getting ready to eat."

He smiled at me. "I like the sound of that. Will do, bro."

As soon as he had turned around to go talk to the other three, I faced Eleanor. I stared her in the eyes for a few moments, before she finally broke away to start getting all of the food ready.

 _Brittany's POV_

Normally, I would have been complaining. Not that Theo and Ellie had very much to work with, but every single one of the options of fruits, veggies and rice that were in front of us was pretty bland and tasteless. But I was just so damn hungry that I plopped a ton of it on my plate and went to town. It was all I could do to not spill any, I was in such a hurry to get it all in my belly. And to wash it all down was some purified water that felt cool and refreshing going down my throat.

The others may have been watching me and judging me for taking so much but I didn't care.

"After this we have enough vittles to last us about a week," Theodore spoke up. I couldn't tell if he was trying to say something towards me or not.

"Noted, thank you," Jeanette responded.

I could tell the others were pretty hungry, too. Food was scarce, there was no doubt about that. I almost felt bad for taking more than anyone else. But I just couldn't help it. It wasn't long before every single bite of food was either on someone's plate or in their bellies. My plate was empty, and I was looking around longingly at anyone else if they still had food left to eat.

Alvin must have noticed this, because he quickly tapped me on the shoulder and traded my empty plate for his almost-full plate. I gratefully accepted it, but I now felt even worse. Regardless, I wolfed that food down as well.

Once everyone had finished, all we could do was sit in a circle and stare at each other awkwardly.

"Simon," I asked, "when are we planning on searching for the ship that carried the Marines here?"

Simon hesitated before looking in Jeanette's direction. Jean answered for him: "can't say for sure. Probably a day or two… we're just waiting for the Martian activity to calm down a bit. We can see a squad of them occasionally walk through."

I nodded. On the one hand, I wanted to try to get going as soon as possible. But on the other hand, the less at risk I put myself and my baby in, the better.

"In the meantime," Jeanette continued, "just buckle down and keep yourselves busy."

"Got it," I said.

"I have an idea for that," Alvin suddenly piped up. "We could play Never Have I Ever with a twist."

"What's the twist?" Eleanor asked him.

"If someone says they haven't done something, and you have, you have to take a sip of Crown Royal."

All of our eyes suddenly fell on the bottle that happened to be right next to where we were sitting. "What about me? I can't drink," I protested.

Alvin thought about this. "You could do a dare!"

I sighed. "Fine, let's get this over with."

"I don't know about this," Jeanette grumbled.

"Come on, Jean!" Alvin pushed her. "It's getting late anyway. Loosen up."

She rolled her eyes, but finally a smile crept across her face. "Fine. I'll start. Never have I ever hijacked a commercial plane's speaker system."

Alvin shrugged, grinning from ear to ear that his plot had worked. And so, as promised, he walked over to the bottle, took the straw in his hand, put it to his mouth, and sucked in until he got a pretty decent sized sip. We all watched him closely to see what his reaction would be. He hesitated, shuddered a little bit, then started smacking his lips a little to judge the after taste. "Wasn't half bad," he told us before sitting back down. "My turn! Never have I ever been dutch-ovened by Toby!"

We all looked straight at Theodore. He sighed. "Fine." He stood up, walked over to the straw, and took an even bigger sip than Alvin had. His eyes widened and he let out a couple small coughs. "This better be worth it," he managed to say through a gag. After Theo had taken a seat and recovered, he said, "ok, never have I ever had to do a sexy dance routine in order to keep snakes from eating me."

Jeanette stood straight up without waiting an walked over to the bottle. I grumbled. "Ok, what's my dare?"

"Hmm," Theodore thought about this. "I didn't think that far."

Jeanette took her sip of whiskey, and she surprisingly seemed to take it pretty well. She giggled. "You should be able to do like a truth or dare type thing. Ya know? Like you should be able to choose between a truth or dare."

"Fine but I still choose dare."

Theodore shrugged. "I have no idea what to make you do."

Jeanette looked down at me slyly. "I know," she said, "give Alvin a lap dance."

I blushed. Everyone looked to me with subdued smiles on their faces. Alvin covered his mouth, trying not to laugh from embarrassment.

"Come on, Brit," my sister Jean pleaded, "he's waiting."

I grumbled, "fair enough," as I stood up and walked in front of Alvin. He looked up at me with eyes wide as the red sea as he sat on top of a metal box. I looked down at him, and a grin grew on my face. He was only dressed in his boxers, and I was only in my spandex and sports bra. Despite the bulge in my belly, I was feeling sexy. "Computer, play 'Love Game' by Lady Gaga!"

The computer suddenly came alive and obliged, playing the song I had requested from the speakers on all sides.

I spread my legs and wrapped my arms around Alvin's shoulders. Sensing the pleasure inside of him, I bent my knees until my crotch was planted on his right leg and began grinding it back and forth to the beat, all while the others were whistling and cheering me on. As I wiggled by hips on my boy's hips I leaned in and whispered in his ear, "this is reminding me of something."

I suddenly got up and turned around. I sat on his lap, this time facing away from him and towards the others. I spread my legs again so that both of his were inside of me, grabbed his knees in my hands, bent forward, and went back to grinding and shaking my ass to the beat of the song. This prompted many "ooh's" from the other four. All I knew was that I had a huge smile on my face and judging from the bulge I felt in his pants, Alvin did too.

I leaned back into his chest but continued to dance, grabbing his shoulders as I did and leaning my head towards his ear. "I can tell you're enjoying this," I whispered as he stared at my body wiggling on his lap.

"Hell yeah," he whispered back.

This encouraged me to bend back forward so he could get a better view of my butt and continue dancing. I didn't stop for one second until the song finally ended.

" _Would you like me to shuffle more songs by Lady Gaga_?" The computer asked out loud.

"No thank you," I said as I stood up and sat back down in my usual spot.

The computer responded by shutting down it's screen.

"Yes please," Alvin murmured, causing me to giggle.

"Ok," I said. "It's my turn. Never have I ever… um… played chess." Suddenly Alvin, Simon, and Eleanor all stood up.

"That's a lame one," Simon shot at me.

I shrugged, satisfied that I was making so many of them drink.

"When have you played chess, Ellie?" Theodore asked.

Just as Eleanor was about to take her first sip of booze ever, she turned to him and said, "Simon taught me 'cause I was so bored." And with that she wrapped her mouth around the straw and took a huge sip. It almost made her choke and spill, either because she wasn't expecting the amount or because she wasn't expecting the taste. Or both. "That did not taste good," she finally said.

Simon's turn was next. He was obviously nervous now, so he plugged his nose with one hand and sipped with the other. As whiskey flowed into his mouth he looked less and less comfortable. He finally let go and let the Crown drip back into the bottle. "Yuck," he said with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Alvin took his sip with ease, sitting back down next to me with the swagger of a king.

And I suddenly came to the realization, _I'm going to be babysitting these corny drunk bozo's all night, aren't I_?

 _Eleanor's POV_

I sat back down. "Never have I ever been kidnapped by a crazy lady on a deserted island," I said, looking straight at Jeanette the whole time.

She stood up with a smile on her face and walked over to the bottle. She gave us all one more devilish look before taking a much bigger gulp than any of the rest of us had at that point. We all watched her with our jaws dropped, especially Simon.

"How you gonna let your girl out drink you like that, Si?" Alvin teased his brother.

"Well now he has a chance to redeem himself," Jeanette responded as she sat back down. "Never have I ever snitched on Alvin."

Simon bit his lip as his counterpart winked at him. Theodore was the first to stand up, which seemed to surprise Alvin but at that point he was too tipsy to care. Simon followed his younger, chubbier brother until they were both next to the straw. Theo took a respectable-sized swig and acted afterwards like it barely even affected him, of course.

The pressure was now on Simon. He looked at all of us nervously before working up his bravery and putting his mouth around the straw. The whiskey flowed into his mouth for a good few seconds before he pulled away gasping for air. A little bit spilled on the floor but none of us cared as we were all busy cheering for Simon.

"He's gonna be feeling that one!" Alvin chuckled aloud.

I was feeling it, that's for sure. My stomach felt warm inside, and things were beginning to feel funny.

"Ok then," Simon said as he sat back down, "never have I ever knocked up my girlfriend before an important mission."

Brittany looked legitimately offended. Alvin just laughed and said, "that's kind of a low blow," in somewhat slurred speech.

Simon nodded in the direction of the bottle. "Drink up."

Alvin stood up and pointed at Simon and Jeanette, "I'm gonna show up both of you pussies," he chuckled.

"I'll believe it when I see it, Alvie," Jeanette winked at him.

Alvin stumbled over to the bottle and took the straw in both hands. "Don't die," Theodore joked with his brother.

"You're one to talk," Alvin snapped as if he had been interrupted. He seemed to struggle a little bit actually getting the straw into his mouth, but once it was there it was drink city. He didn't pull away from the straw until he was literally choking. Once again, a little spilled but no one cared as we were all making fun of him for choking.

"You know what, though," I butted in out of the blue, "that's not really fair."

The others all looked at me in confusion. "What do you mean?" Simon asked.

"Like, what were Brittany and Alvin supposed to do? What did NASA expect?" The others were still looking around at each other, trying to see if anyone could tell what I was talking about. "They threw six hot teenagers in their underwear together on a cramped spaceship. What did they think was gonna happen?"

"They thought we were gonna get taken out by a bunch of Martians," Brittany retorted, rolling her eyes at my slurred words.

"No, no, no!" Jeanette inserted herself. "I can see what Ellie's saying! Because we are hot!"

"Thank you!" I said pointing at my agreeable sister.

"Look at us!" she continued. "They were basically begging us to be screwing each other…"

We all laughed, except for Brittany. Jeanette cracked up so hard that she accidentally stumbled right into Simon's arms. At least I'm pretty sure it was accidental.

 _Simon's POV_

I surprised myself by actually catching Jeanette and saving her from a fall to the tabletop, from my sitting position no less, even though her stumble totally took me by surprise.

"Sorry," she giggled.

"Y-you're good," I said nervously.

"Simon," she whispered, making herself comfy in my lap, "I have a confession."

"Uh oh," I chuckled, winking at her.

She smiled up at me with that dorky smile I loved about her. "I wasn't just talking out of my ass just now."

"What do you mean?" I asked her in confusion.

She got real close to my ear and whispered, "I think we should ditch this crowd and get naughty."

I looked at her with a wide eye. With the combined drunkenness and only having one eye, the world around me was pretty blurry. But I had to give it a try. I was not going to let this moment go. I simply nodded.

Jeannie suddenly got excited and grabbed my hand as she helped me quietly sneak away.

 _Alvin's POV_

I flung both my arms sloppily around Brittany, but she seemed more annoyed than accepting. "Hey pretty girl," I whispered in her ear.

She scoffed, "Alvin, you're drunk."

"No!" I said indignantly. But then I thought about it. "Maybe a little bit, but I've always thought that way about you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know babe," she said rolling her eyes.

I didn't just let it stop there. "I'm serious! You're gorgeous!"

She giggled. "Stop it Alvie before you embarrass yourself."

"No!" I protested, accidentally slurring a little bit. "I'm not gonna stop!"

"Shh," she shushed me as she put her index finger to my lips.

My eyes suddenly darted over to where Theo and Ellie had been sitting, having not heard from them in a while. To my surprise, one of Eleanor's legs was resting across Theodore's lap, their chests were pressed together and their lips were locked. They were making out without a care in the world.

"Look," I said in more of a whisper, turning back to Brittany.

"What?" she said.

"We haven't spoken enough about the baby. We need to talk about it."

She shot me a confused look. "What is there to talk about?"

"Names for it, how we're gonna take care of it, who's gonna be the designated diaper changer, ya know! The cute stuff!"

Brittany smiled, obviously wanting to play along. "I always envisioned that if it were a girl, we'd name her Alicia. And if it were a boy… um, Russell!"

"I like Alicia. But Russell?"

"Ok then," she snapped at me sarcastically, "what would you name him?"

"I like a Colby or a Luke," I said thoughtfully.

"Ew," she said jokingly. Suddenly her face scanned the camp area around us, searching for something. "Where are Simon and Jeanette?"

As if on cue, a high pitched moaning sound arose from behind a large pile of medical supplies across the table. It was pretty obviously coming from Jeanette.

"Oh my God," Brittany groaned. "A few sips of whiskey and you all have become like Jack rabbits."

"You want some," I asked her, grinning slyly.

She rolled her eyes and pointed at her belly. "Remember?"

"Oh yeah!" I gasped. "Anyway, where should we raise it?"

She thought about this for a moment. She finally said, "I always pictured like a normal house. You know? Like not a super nice mansion but also not something really small. Like just a nice, cozy home somewhere in the suburbs. With a really nice backyard for the baby to play in. And the commute into town won't be too bad."

"Shit. I love that. That sounds perfect," I said holding her tight. "Do you think we'll still be singing?"

"I never really thought that out specifically," she admitted. "I kinda always just imagined we'd do whatever our best option was."

"Hmm…" I thought about all of this. "Well, whatever we do, I'm sure we'll be fine. I can't wait to live all of this out with you."

This seemed to make her overfilled with joy. For the first time that night, she pulled me closer, and we cuddled, until I passed out from being too drunk.

 _Jeanette's POV_

My eyes suddenly shot open. The little bit of natural light pouring into the control room combined with the fact that I hadn't really been sleeping in a comfortable position was too much to delay being awake any longer. I looked around. Simon was laying down with me, with his arms around me. We were on the cold hard table top, with no blanket, still behind that big pile of medical supplies we had snuck behind last night.

I had such an ear splitting headache and my neck was sore from not having a pillow. Even just sitting up and looking around hurt like hell. But I smelled something cooking.

Being careful not to wake Simon, I stood up and walked back over more towards where the main section of the camp was. I could hear something sizzling, and it smelt so good. I could see Brit and Alvin wrapped up in a blanket together like a love burrito.

Eleanor was sitting on the same seat that she had when I left her last night, but she was hunched over and clutching her forehead.

"You ok?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said, looking up at me with a smile on her face. "Just a headache."

I giggled. "I know how you feel." Then I noticed Theodore a few feet away, frying something on a hot stone. "What're you making Theo?"

"Powdered eggs and powdered milk," he responded without looking back at me. "Protein helps with hangovers."

"Is it almost ready?"

"Yeah," he said.

Without hesitating, I walked over to where Alvin and Brittany laid. I crouched by them and put a hand on Brittany's shoulder. "Psst!"

Both of them stirred awake. "Jeanette?" Brittany muttered. "What is it?"

"Breakfast is almost ready," I whispered.

"Thank God," she said. "I could eat a shark."

Suddenly Alvin said, "holy hell my head hurts!"

"Yeah, Alvin this can't be an every night thing," I warned him.

Brittany chuckled at me. "Yeah, 'cause if it were, before you'd know it, you'd end up pregnant just like me."

"Whatever," I said, rolling my eyes trying to hide my embarrassment. "Just get up."

They obliged, although slowly. And then, as if on cue, Theodore turned off the hot stone and began scraping the scrambled powdered eggs into a huge bowl for all of us. "Bon Appetit!" he exclaimed, obviously proud of himself.

But just as we began to dig in, the computer suddenly came to life. " _Tracking movement ouside of base. Would you like camera feed on screen?_ "

"Yes!" I exclaimed, suddenly jumping to my feet.

The computer followed my instructions. I sprinted to the center of the table, followed closely by everyone else, including Simon who was just getting up, to see the video feed.

It was the camera that was just outside the garage door where the rovers were all parked. Outside the door were at least two dozen or so Martians, scampering around, sniffing the building, although it was tough to tell their true numbers as there were some off screen.

"Shit," I said.

"What do we do?" Eleanor gasped.

"Computer! Arm sentry guns A through D!" Simon exclaimed.

The computer projected it's loading screen, trying to process the command.

"Just in case," Simon insisted to us.

Suddenly, the whole building came alive with flashing red lights and sirens. The computer's voice rang out loud and clear throughout the base: " _Warning! Under attack! To battle stations! This is not a drill! Warning! Under attack! To battle stations! This is not a drill_!"

I screamed, "shut down warning system!"

After a moment, the lights and sirens ceased and the building was back to normal. " _Sentry guns armed. 400 rounds of ammunition in each_."

"Show us the camera feed," Alvin said through held breath.

The screen suddenly turned back to the camera angle that we were looking at just before. However, this time, the Martians were all howling at the sky in angry and bloodthirsty fashion. Some were standing on their hind paws. They had discovered us, and they were letting every Alien in the area know it.

 **Woah! What's gonna happen next?**

 **I have to say, I really enjoyed writing this chapter. But I have a feeling I'll enjoy the next one even more. Hopefully you all are still with me and still reading this far. If you are, be sure to hit that fav/follow button and then leave a review. If you have any ideas, opinions, etc. about this chapter or the story as a whole I WANT to hear them! You don't even need to have an account on the site!**

 **One more thing, I'm thinking of doing another M rated one shot, except this time for Simon and Jeanette. It would tie into this chapter, similar to the one I did for Alvin and Brittany. Thoughts?**

 **And of course, I'll keep writing so I can update ASAP for you guys ;)**


	19. The Last Stand

**Hey everyone! Just wanted to shout everybody out who's reading my story this far! Whether you're reviewing or not, I know there are people out there reading and that alone is what gives me inspiration to keep going. I'm glad people are legitimately excited to read and find out what happens and if that includes you then I encourage you to let me know however you want!**

 **Also, I decided to write an M rated one shot for Jeanette and Simon that ties into last chapter. It should be coming out same time as this chapter so keep your eyes peeled for it.**

 **Anyway, when we left the Chipmunks and Chipettes, they had just been discovered by a horde of Martians. Will they make it out of the Omortson alive? Read on to find out that and more!**

 **Chapter 19: The Last Stand**

 _Alvin's POV_

"God dammit!" I exclaimed.

"Ok this is it everyone," Jeanette said surprisingly calmly. "Everybody get your Mars suits on! They're gonna break in!"

We all wasted no time in scrambling around camp, picking up the various pieces of our Mars suits wherever we had left them and throwing them on as quickly as possibly. The army of aliens was already busy trying to barge through the garage door, as we could see on the camera feed.

I noticed Brit having trouble fitting her suit back on, given the bulge in her belly, so I rushed to her side. Even with my help, it took a lot of effort and she obviously wasn't comfortable with how tight it was.

The Martians finally managed to claw a big hole through the garage door. As they were pouring through, they made very sure to thoroughly check our rover, not wanting to repeat their mistakes of last time. We were all just now fitting headsets onto our heads and twisting on our glass helmets, meanwhile the red beasts had made their way towards the first door to the compression chamber. As they tried to break in, steam was arising from inside the chamber.

" _Alert_!" The computer warned us. " _Base under attack_!"

" _Computer shut up_!" Brittany shouted.

It did as she asked, just as the Martians had broken their way into the compression chamber. One more door and they were in, and there was no more air.

"Remember the plan everybody!" I said. "We stick together, we get out of this alive, and we go find that ship that's gonna get us out of here!"

Suddenly even just the smallest breach, torn through by the aliens, in the final door caused in a millisecond all of the air and the heat to escape outside through that one tiny opening. The sudden change in density created an explosion that blasted the door wide open and caused the whole base to shake. Eleanor fell on her back because she wasn't ready.

For a second the Martians looked frightened by the blast, as the entire horde took a step back. But it wasn't long before their confidence and determination took back over and they were charging through the giant gaping hole where the compression chamber used to be.

It was hard to tell how many there were, but it was definitely at least a couple hundred.

" _Computer_ ," Jeanette said, keeping her cool, " _show me hallway F and bring up the ammo counts of sentry guns A and B._ "

Suddenly, most of the table became a camera feed coming from behind the first two sentry guns, pointing down the hall so that we could see the fence that we had built. Because of the blast, only the dim emergency lights were on in the hall, making it kind of difficult to see. In the top left corner of the screen was a rectangular bar that said: " **SENTRY A: 400** " and " **Sentry B: 400** ".

We all waited with held breaths, watching the screen underneath us for the Martians to appear around the corner. If our defenses were set up well, they were going to be met with Hell. If they weren't, then it was us who was going to be met with Hell.

Suddenly, the first beast appeared from behind the corner on the left. Both sentry guns quickly snapped their barrels in its directions and began unleashing bullets. More and more began flooding around the corner, causing the guns to go back and forth from alien to alien, hosing them down as quickly as they could.

Meanwhile, the ammo counter for both guns was dropping at an alarming rate.

" _Sentry gun A is down to 300_ ," Jeanette said. A few seconds later she added, " _So is B_."

The smoke from the gunfire was making it almost impossible to see anything. But the Martians had definitely pushed their way to the fence. The sentry guns, designed to eliminate the nearest threat, were busy twisting back and forth and constantly unleashing fire.

" _Gun A is at 200_ ," Jeanette updated us. " _Now B is too_."

"It's a shooting gallery down there," I chuckled, watching the screen without blinking.

Most of the Martians stayed on the ground, trying to chew through the wires at the bottom. But the sentry guns were looking to be very effective at taking them down before they could make it through. Some of the beasts tried climbing the fence in an attempt to make it over the gap near the ceiling, however before any of them could even make it halfway up one of the sentry guns would spot it, lift it's barrel up towards it and hose it down.

An annoying alarm suddenly started going off, coming from the table. The bar at the top left corner of the screen started flashing as sentry gun A's ammo count dipped below 100, followed a few seconds later by B.

The horde of Martians didn't seem deterred at all. In fact, they only seemed to push harder, even though they couldn't have any idea that our first line of defense was almost defeated. When an alien got gunned down, another would quickly push its corpse out of the way and take its place.

Sentry gun A suddenly ceased firing as its ammo counter hit zero. For a few moments, gun B was all by itself trying to fend off the horde. But that was short-lived too, as its ammo counter also hit 0. Both guns were helplessly reduced to twisting back and forth, pointing from Martian to Martian, as if they wished they could keep firing.

The red beasts, meanwhile, wasted no time in chewing multiple holes right through our wire mesh wall and charging through. Before moving on towards us, they made it a point to sink their teeth and claws into the tripods that were holding up the sentry guns until both of them were torn to the ground.

Brittany put her hand over her mouth in fear, causing my protective instincts to kick in and wrap my arms around her warmly.

" _Show me hallway J and bring up the ammo counts of Sentry guns C and D_ ," Jeanette commanded to the table.

The camera feed suddenly switched to a similar view of our second line of defense, where our final mesh wall and two sentry guns waited patiently for the attack. They didn't have to wait very long.

The second Martians charged around the corner, they were met with bullets. The ammo counter in the top left corner began to countdown again from four hundred. These gunshots were louder and obviously much closer than before. They pushed forward unfazed by all of their pack mates getting ripped to shreds around them until they were right up on the fence.

" _Come on…_ " Theo prayed aloud.

" _Sentry gun C is down to 300 bullets_ ," Jeanette murmured. " _And… so is gun D._ "

"Jesus, they're wall to wall over there," I said.

They pushed and clawed and desperately and savagely tried to rip through the fence. The lonely few who tried to climb were shredded as soon as they stood out from the crowd. Some of their bodies fell back to the ground, some hung lifeless halfway up on the wires. Corpses were starting to build up big time. But it still didn't faze them or turn them away.

" _200 bullets in C. D is right behind it._ "

My heart sank as I realized it was going to be up to us. With the others following my lead, I quickly began to pick up and prepare and weapons I could hold. I chose an AR-15, two military grade pistols and plenty of ammo for all three, also making sure to pick up a motion tracker.

Suddenly, the alarm began to sound off, letting us know the sentry gun C had just dipped below one hundred rounds. We watched the screen intently, despite it being dark and smoky. Sentry gun D was down to a hundred now. Both guns kept firing but were getting met with more screams and angry snarls from the Martians.

Sentry gun C fell to ten rounds, then in an instant, it dropped to zero. It was useless. "Shit," I cursed as I turned and was just about to start sprinting towards the blockade.

" _Wait_!" Simon exclaimed.

I stopped and looked back at the screen. Both guns had stopped firing. But Sentry gun D's ammo counter still read 15. They were still twisting back and forth, looking for something to shoot.

" _It looks like they're retreating_!" Simon said gleefully.

We all took deep breaths of relief. The horde did indeed look to be disappearing around the corner. I took a knee because I was so out of breath. Just to double check, I turned on my motion tracker and watched as the giant blob that was the martian army moved farther and farther away from us. "I think he's right, I said."

But just as I finished speaking, the blob halted in its tracks. It stayed put for a little while, but we could still hear the beasts scratching and screeching around inside of the base.

" _What're they up to_?" Simon asked suspiciously.

Suddenly, my tracker showed the horde stretching out with chunks of it moving towards us. "Oh God," I muttered.

" _What is it_?" Eleanor asked me in a worried voice.

"They're coming back."

 _Jeanette's POV_

"You all know what to do!" I shouted.

Without another word, every one of us began scrambling towards the blockade. Once there, we began climbing to the tunnel at the top as fast as our legs could carry our bodies, our suits, and our weapons.

"What does your tracker say, Alvin?" I asked, panting.

He checked, " _Whole group is heading back our way. Looks like they're gonna be back at that corner soon._ "

Almost out of breath, I was the first to reach the top and point my loaded gun's barrel down the tunnel. I was soon joined by Alvin, Simon, Theodore, Eleanor, and finally Brittany. All of them followed my lead and aimed their guns down the other end. "How about now?" I asked with no response. "Alvin?"

" _Uh…_ " he fumbled around with his tracker for a moment, clearly nervous. " _25 meters but getting closer_."

"That can't be," I said. "That would mean they're in hall J and I don't hear the Sentry gun going off."

" _I'm telling you they're at 21 meters and counting_!"

"Ok, ok," I said, trying to calm everyone down. "How many?"

" _Erm… dozens._ "

Sweat was beginning to trickle down all of our foreheads. It was hard to keep from shaking with how terrified I was.

" _18 meters_."

"Ok they're past the gun!"

" _15 meters,_ " Alvin continued, jittering frantically. " _11! They're closing in real quick_!"

"We're gonna be alright," I assured everyone as best I could. "They have to come thru this tunnel. Just don't waste ammo."

" _5 meters!"_

"Ok they're right outside the blockade! Everyone get ready!"

The others all seemed to tense up.

" _3 meters…_ "

"That can't be," I scolded Alvin, "that would mean they're in the tunnel!"

" _It's reading right, man, look_!" Alvin retorted hysterically, showing me the tracker's screen.

"They found another way in," I whispered to myself in shock. "Something we missed."

" _We didn't miss anything_!" Simon assured me.

" _2 meters… one meter… they're right on top of us_!"

We all began to dart our eyes in every direction frantically, confused. Suddenly, it hit me. I looked straight down to the ground beneath us at the foot of the metal blockade and pointed my gun and my flashlight in that direction as well.

" _Oh my God_ ," Brittany muttered in horror.

"They're underneath the floors," I tried to say quietly. "Everybody get into the tunnel. Right now."

Just as I had finished speaking, a loud scratching and clanking noise could be heard underneath the pile of bones down below. We could hear an angry hiss as a Martian used his claw to poke a hole through a floorboard.

Alvin led the way through the tunnel, followed by Brittany, then Theodore, then Ellie. I went in fifth while Simon insisted on bringing up the rear. We all moved through the tunnel as quickly as we could, hunched over, Alvin keeping a sharp eye on his end for any Martians and Simon doing his best to keep up while doing the same. We could hear them all pouring up through the floor, sniffing for us, screeching at each other, pacing around. Suddenly, one popped its head up to peer through the tunnel on Simon's side. It let out a loud howl before Simon aimed his rifle and took a near-perfect shot that took the beast out. We heard it tumble down the side of the blockade and crash into the bones on the ground. The only problem was now they knew where we were.

Eleanor and I turned around and pointed our guns in that direction, as we could hear them angrily begin to climb up the side of the wall.

"Keep pushing forward!" I urged everybody, but they all slowed down and seemed more fixated on defense, staring in our direction.

The next Martian who poked his head into the tunnel got popped by yours truly. He fell to the floor the same way the last one had.

The next one, however, Simon took a shot at and missed pretty badly. This allowed the hissing scum into the tunnel and to begin crawling towards us.

Eleanor screamed, shut both her eyes, and took a shot. It was a bullzeye, right between the beast's eyes.

I turned around just long enough to scold her, "both eyes open when you shoot."

" _I'm sorry,_ " she said.

"You're gonna be sorry if poor shooting costs you your life. Now come on, let's push forward."

More and more Martians kept entering the tunnel to chase after us, and corpses were begging to build up and block us off from being able to shoot them. Until, of course, they pushed their dead brothers aside. It was getting messy, trying to back up hunched over and shoot frantically at the same time.

Just as Alvin had almost made it to the other end, an alien jumped up and blocked his path. Alvin jumped and dropped his gun. Screeching at the eldest chipmunk, the beast began scrambling his way. But out of nowhere, Brittany fired her gun and wounded the Martian's right leg. It fell onto its stomach just a foot away from Alvin's feet, impaling itself on a jagged edge of metal. It screamed and hissed and thrashed around, almost managing to get itself up. In a panic, Brittany began unloading bullets on the thing without really aiming. One hit its back, the next missed, the next two hit its head, killing it. But she was in such a shock that she didn't stop. More and more shots hit the creatures dead corpse.

" _Brittany it's dead_!" Alvin exclaimed, getting back on his feet. " _You're just wasting ammo_!"

She finally eased down, just in time for another Martian to appear at that same end of the tunnel.

As Alvin, Brittany, Theo and Ellie fought to get us out of the tunnel, Simon and I were desperately trying to fend off the Martians that were chasing us from the other end. They were getting closer and closer each passing moment.

I heard Alvin yell behind us, " _We need help over here_!''

 _Simon's POV_

I looked at Jeanette and she looked back at me. "Go," I said. "Help them out. I got this."

" _No you don't_!" she protested after firing a few shots. " _You can't even aim properly_!"

"Trust me, you have to help them. I'll catch up."

She suddenly looked at me suspiciously, as she was obviously catching on. " _Don't do that_ ," she said sternly. " _Don't talk to me like I'm stupid. 'Cause I'm not stupid._ "

"I never said you were," I sighed, before bringing down yet another Martian.

Alvin and the others had not been able to exit the tunnel, as the aliens on that side were too overwhelming. Meanwhile on my side it was getting tighter and tighter.

"Look, just go help them."

She hesitated, but seeing that the situation was getting more and more hopeless, she finally joined the other four. Together, they made relatively quick work of the Martians outside the tunnel, clearing an opening for them to exit.

Backing up, I was doing my best to follow them. " _Come on, Si_!" Theodore called to me.

I was so busy shooting, and missing half of the time. Moving in his direction was just another added factor. But I did eventually make it out, joining the rest.

" _Now come on, we gotta run_!" Alvin exclaimed.

"No" I said sternly, continuing to fire along with Theo down the tunnel. "We can't. We can't outrun them."

" _Then what do you propose we do_?" he yelled.

"Someone has to stay behind," I said solemnly. "Someone has to hold them in the tunnel. Otherwise none of us have a chance."

" _No_!" Jeanette said defiantly. " _We're not splitting up. We'll all stay and fight._ "

"They're not gonna stop, Jeannie," I said, in between shots. "They're not gonna stop. There's too many. I just have to hold them off long enough for you all to escape."

" _Simon I am not leaving you behind_!" Jeanette argued.

"Then you're sentencing your entire crew to death."

Her jaw dropped at this. She looked at her sisters, and Alvin and Theo,while we were still just busy holding off the horde through the tunnel.

"There isn't much time. You're the captain here, and you need to make the tough decision for the greater good."

A tear fell down her cheek. " _I can't_ ," she admitted. " _I can't just let you die._ _I'm not that strong._ "

"Theo watch my back for a second," I said, before turning to Jeanette. "Look, you're the strongest, smartest, most beautiful woman I've ever met. And I'd rather die right here knowing you, like I have, than go my whole life and die old in my bed years from now without you."

Everyone was full on crying now, especially Jeanette. " _Please don't_."

I placed my helmet against hers and looked deep into her eyes one last time. It took more effort with the eye patch but still well worth it. "I'll always be with you," I whispered. And with that I turned away and went right back to firing shots blindly down the tunnel. "Theo, Alvin, everybody, I've always loved you guys so much. I couldn't have asked for a family."

The Martians were pushing harder, almost being halfway through the tunnel.

"Go now!" I commanded.

They obeyed me, suddenly sprinting down the blockade as fast as their little legs could carry them. I kept shooting, missing most of my shots. I could only hope to buy them just enough time to get out of this base. I knew that this was the end, but if dying meant saving Eleanor, Brittany, my brothers, and Jeanette, then it was well worth it.

 _Eleanor's POV_

One of us was pregnant. Two of us were totally out of shape. All of us were carrying multiple heavy weapons and a hot Mars suit. And all of us were emotionally torn apart by the decision we just had to make. And yet, each one of us moved faster than I think we ever had in our lives.

We sprinted through the hallways, past the wreckages of the sentry guns, through the holes in the wire mesh fences, Alvin's eyes always on his motion tracker. So much so that he almost missed the turn that was going to lead us to the garage.

We could still hear gunshots going on behind us as we ran, meaning Simon was still alive and fighting at that point. But we didn't have enough time to focus on that.

We finally came up to where the blast had completely torn apart the compression chamber. Being careful not to cut our suits on jagged steel edges, we navigated our ways into the garage.

Suddenly, we heard a blood curdling scream coming from back the way we came. Jeanette gasped and began to cry.

I put a hand on her shoulder and said, "we need to keep moving, Jeannie. Come on. There's time for this later."

She nodded and followed us to where the rover was still parked. It looked pretty scratched up, but still looked functionable to me. We all piled in as quickly as the compression chamber would allow us and didn't bother buckling our seat belts or even taking off our helmets. The hole that the Martians had torn through the garage door looked just big enough for us to roll through, so Alvin decided to just go for it.

After accidentally dropping the keys from being in too much of a hurry, he put them in the ignition, twisted them, and as soon as the engine started humming to life, he put the rover in gear and slammed the gas pedal.

The vehicle swerved forward with a jolt and through the hole in the door, scratching its right side pretty bad along the way.

" _It's ok,_ " Alvin assured us. " _She's tough. She can take it._ "

He suddenly jerked us to the left, forcing the rover to drift roughly and kick up Mars dust behind us. He began navigating us skillfully through the field of solar panels, which already looked like they were getting pretty dusty again.

Swerving left and right to avoid the panels, we were all being flung about the cabin portion of the vehicle. I stood up and peered into the cockpit just in time to see a Martian right in our path. He stood in a stance that looked like he was ready to pounce. Alvin stubbornly revved his engine and stepped on the gas even harder. The rover accelerated, but the alien didn't move a muscle. Just as we hit 60 miles per hour, the right side of our beefed up front bumper collided with the Martian's skull, splattering his brains onto the dome-shaped windshield. As the front-right tire ran over its corpse it was launched into the air along with the entire right side of the rover. Alvin tried to regain control of the vehicle but it was too late.

The whole thing, with us unbuckled inside, flipped onto its left side and rolled completely over a few times before finally coming to rest on its right side with a crunch.

 **So things are picking up, and I don't expect them to come back down. Thoughts? Opinions? Questions? Ideas? There's a review button for that! And you don't have to have a fanfiction account to leave one!**

 **Also be sure to hit that fav/follow button if you haven't already to get a notification when I update.**

 **Finally, be SURE to read that one-shot of Jeanette and Simon! I'm really proud of it!**


	20. The Martian Lair

**The story's really building up, so I think for a while I'm gonna step away from my usual routine of listening to chipmunks music as I write to epic music like the music from the end of the third Star Wars movie, "Time" by Hanz Zimmer and things like that. We'll see how it works out.**

 **I really hope you're still with me and enjoying what I'm writing. If you are please be sure to read this chapter and let me know what you thought in a review or PM!**

 **Chapter 20: The Martian Lair**

 _Brittany's POV_

I remember feeling the rover flipping over a few times, and I remember myself, my family, and whatever we were carrying getting tossed all around inside. Before the vehicle even stopped rolling, however I had already blacked out.

When I finally came to, my head was throbbing, my ears were ringing, my whole body was sore. I could hear some screaming and yelling but I couldn't make it out exactly. For a moment I had forgotten where I was.

I opened my eyes and they seemed blurry at first but they quickly recovered. Alvin was standing by the cockpit door, which looked funny to me for some reason, trying to yell at and direct everybody else. I finally realized that the reason it looked funny was because the rover was on its side. I could see the horizon out the windshield and it was vertical. I blinked and picked my head up, trying not to go too quickly.

Alvin finally noticed me and ran over to me and knelt by my side. He muttered something at me but even though I was looking directly at his lips it was too muffled for me to make it out through the headset. My ears were still ringing too much. I shook my head, trying to wake myself up, and went, "huh? What're you saying?"

The others suddenly stopped and looked my way.

" _Are you ok_?" Alvin repeated.

I blinked. "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

" _How about the baby_?" he asked.

My eyes suddenly grew so wide. I had forgotten about the baby. I clutched my stomach in a panic, looking down at it, feeling, hoping for any kind of sign of life. I didn't feel anything. "I don't… I don't know."

Alvin took a deep breath. " _Well we can't worry about that right now. We have to get out of here. The rover's done with._ "

I nodded, scared out of my mind, and followed Alvin and the others to the emergency hatch on the roof of the vehicle. We each carried a single weapon with ammo, because that's all we could really travel fast with. Theodore unlocked the hatch and kicked it open.

Cautiously checking all angles outside with his rifle, he finally signalled to us that we could get out. One by one, we hopped out, landing with a thud on the soft Martian dust below us. Alvin went before me and helped me down, while Theo brought up the rear.

The alien we had run over laid motionless and disfigured several meters away from us. There wasn't a sign of any others anywhere.

" _What now_?" Eleanor asked as the wind began to pick up and dust began blowing in our faces.

Alvin pointed at the giant red rocky mountain that stood towering over anything else in the direct area. " _We go through it_."

" _Are you insane_?" Theodore exclaimed. " _You want us to go through the Martians' nest… with next to no fire power_?"

" _Our only other option_ ," Alvin explained calmly, " _is to go around it, and be sitting ducks in the wide open where we could be easily spotted for miles in all directions. And once we're spotted, with no tunnels or anything to hold them at bay, it's game over. At least this way we'll have the element of surprise._ "

" _Alvin's right._ " Jeanette suddenly spoke up.

I rolled my eyes. "Look can we just go anywhere but here. I want to get the hell away from that base."

Without wasting any more time, Jeanette began leading us in the direction of the mountain, with Theodore begrudgingly following the rest of us. All five of us trudged, guns ready in our hands, through a dust storm which was picking up and thankfully covering up our tracks behind us. The only downside was that it was becoming harder to see and move in a straight line. We had to stay close to one another. Otherwise we'd be lost, because turning on our lights was too risky. Alvin, as always, had his motion tracker ready to make sure we were clear.

The dust clouds were really picking up, pushing us off of our paths, knocking us over occasionally. But we had to stick together. The mountain got closer and closer, with no sign of us being followed. It felt like forever before we had finally made it. We were at the base of the mountain.

Alvin finally took the risk of turning on a flashlight and shining at the foot of the mountain. Our eyes widened. There was a ditch dug right underneath the mountain, wide enough for all of us to crawl through. It almost looked like the whole thing was fake. Alvin suddenly shut the light off, not wanting to risk it anymore than he had to. " _I'll go first_ ," he insisted.

None of us argued, though I held his hand until he was actually in the ditch. After which he quickly rolled underneath the rock to the other side. Jeanette followed him, as did Ellie and Theodore. I took one more look around before hopping into the ditch, ducking underneath the rock and standing up on the other side. We were all inside the mountain.

 _Theodore's POV_

It was deathly quiet and almost completely dark. There was a faint lime green mist that gathered here and there.

" _I don't see any eggs_ ," Alvin said, confused. I could hear him take out his flashlight.

"Don't!" I scolded him in a harsh whisper. But it was too late.

Alvin's beam of light shot on, illuminating everything in its path. We all held our breaths for a pissed off Martian to suddenly wake up and discover us, but we didn't hear a thing. Alvin shone his light all around the large dome-shaped red cave that we appeared to be in. The ditch only went up to my neck, so I could see just as easily as anybody. The floor above the ditch side had several indents and divets in it, indicating that eggs had recently been here. You could even see little pieces of cracked shell.

Suddenly, Alvin's light rested on a doorway-like opening on the opposite side of the dome as us. " _That's our best bet_ ," Alvin whispered.

"I still think we should go around," I protested. "They're never going to see us in the storm."

But Alvin didn't listen. He simply pulled himself out of the ditch and stood up. After helping the three girls up along with him, he promptly covered his flashlight with his hand. I lifted myself into the Martians' lair. The ground turned out to be soft, gooey and sticky. Like mud mixed with bubble gum.

" _Yuck_ ," Brittany said in disgust.

" _Shh_ ," Jeanette warned her as we began slowly creeping towards the opening on the other side.

Every step we took, no matter how gentle, made a gross sticky sound because of the mud. We carefully approached the exit, listening carefully for anything moving besides ourselves. Taking slow, methodical, nervous breaths. I found Eleanor and squeezed her tight as we walked, if for no other reason because it made me feel better.

 _Plop, plop, squish, plop_ , is what our footsteps sounded like, which at least made it easy to stay close to one another. We were getting closer, all the meanwhile Alvin kept his hand tightly over the flashlight.

When we finally made it, Alvin took a single deep breath and looked back at us. He lifted his light, pointed in the direction straight out of the opening, and took his hand off for a split second before putting it right back. He flashed it a couple times, revealing, nothing in that direction but solid rock. Still covering the light, he stepped out of the dome only a little bit, peeked his head around the left corner, lifted the light in that direction, and quickly flashed it again. There was no response, but it looked like a long, curvy, rocky corridor. We still heard no alarming noises. Alvin sighed again, turned in the direction of the other corner, lifted his light, and flashed it once. He didn't see anything, so he flashed it a few more times before he finally felt safe and kept it shining. It was another long, dark, curvy pathway.

" _Which way do we go_?" Eleanor whispered.

Alvin shined the light back and forth, the same question obviously racing through his mind. He finally settled on left. " _This way._ "

We all followed him as he once again covered his light. The ground beneath us now felt like solid rock, instead of the ooze that was on the bottom of the dome. We each carefully stepped forward, one tiny movement at a time. Barely daring to breath. As we came up to a sharp curve, Alvin would occasionally flash his light for a split second so as to see where we were going without waking anything up. Every time he did it revealed nothing but more rock ahead of us. But it felt like we were at least going in the right direction, and better yet there was no sign of a Martian.

Suddenly, because it was tough to see in the dark, my foot hit a rock as I tried to walk. Unable to catch my balance, I fell forward and landed on my hands and knees with a loud thud that echoed ahead of us. We all held our breaths as, with the help of Ellie, I carefully picked myself back up. We didn't hear anything.

Brittany finally exhaled from relief. " _Holy shit_ ," she chuckled.

Without wasting any more time, Alvin continued leading us forward, periodically flashing his light, then quickly covering it back up with his hand. Once we had finally rounded, we could see a three way intersection about ten feet ahead of us on the left side. We approached it carefully, just as we had done before. Doing everything we could not to make a sound. We crept closer and closer with each precise step.

It felt like an hour before we had finally reached it. Alvin peeked around the corner, and I did the same. He lifted up the light down the new path and flashed it.

It was a small dome-shaped pocket of the cave, and inside were about four full-grown Martians with their eyes closed, standing on all fours, huddled close together, panting heavily.

Alvin panicked and quickly pulled the light away and covered it with his hand as best he could. We all stayed perfectly still, listening intently for any sound that would tip us off that they were coming for us. We could hear them in there, with rusty breathing, drooling, snoring. Sounded like they were asleep. They had to have been.

Alvin's breathing became slower but shakier and jittery. He lifted his foot and slowly set it back down in the direction we were going. He then lifted his other foot and put it in front of the other, desperately trying to not make even the faintest amount of noise.

Suddenly, there was a noise that came from behind us. It sounded like claws scraping against rock. We heard something sniffing. Then a sneeze, or something. Then another scratching followed by more sneezing. Alvin held his breath and keeping his hand pressed over the light he lifted it up and pointed it behind us. He inhaled nervously before taking off his hand and letting the beam of light shine. It flashed onto a Martian with his furry red nose pressed directly onto one of the footprints left behind by us with the green-brown mud we had to step through. In an instant he looked up into the beam of light and let out an ear-piercing angry screech that echoed and carried throughout the entire mountain.

Without thinking, I lifted my rifle in his direction and popped him twice in the head. He managed to launch himself at us out of instinct but fell short of us onto his side. I hit him again just to be sure.

Alvin then shone his light into the cave where the other four aliens were just now stirring awake, and all five of us unleashed bullets into them before we could let them figure out what was going on. In a few moments all of them laid dead.

The mountain was coming alive with alerted and pissed off howling and screeching, only we couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from because the echoes were getting carried to us from all directions. The other four of us quickly took out our flashlights and turned them on, having them ready along with our firearms. There was no chance of being sneaky anymore.

 _Alvin's POV_

Every single one of us looked scared shitless. We had no idea where we were going, how to get there, if we were going to find what we were looking for even if we did, where the Martians were going to come from. We felt like fish out of water, and there were dozens of hungry lions trying to eat us.

"We have to keep going," I said. "We need to make sure we got eyes in all directions at all times."

They nodded nervously.

"Let's go," I said, taking a deep breath.

We began jogging in the direction we were originally going, each of us with our guns and flashlights at the ready, twisting all around, keeping an eye and an ear out. The panicked scratching, the howling, it all seemed to be getting louder and closer. I kept pushing forward, trying my best to look fearless. In truth, I was petrified.

We eventually came up to a fork in the pathway. I flashed my light down both directions, and they both seemed to be long and empty. "Right it is," I said.

I began running down the path that I had chosen, followed closely by Brittany, when suddenly I heard an angry growl behind us. I spun around just in time to see a Martian come out of nowhere and lunge at Eleanor before any of them could follow us. The three of them backed up and shot wild and desperate rounds at the beast, but most of them missed. The creature charged and knocked Eleanor on her back before Jeanette was finally able to bring him down.

Out of nowhere, another Martian sprinted in their direction from the way we had come. Theo, Ellie, and Jean turned and began firing, but more and more began appearing. In a panic, they were forced to start backing up down the wrong path. We were splitting up. Brit and I tried to reconnect with them, but we were also under attack. I did everything I could to push forward, knowing every second meant we were getting more and more separated.

After a firefight that only lasted a few moments, Brittany finally took down the last Martian that was attacking us. We both sprinted back towards the fork in the cave. I shone my light down the path that the others were forced down. It still seemed long, dark, and empty. A few alien corpses were spread out on the cave floor, but there were no signs of chipmunks.

"Hello?" I shouted, hoping to at least hear something on the headset. "Theo? Jean? Ellie? Come in if you read me!"

I shuddered from anticipation as I waited for an answer. Suddenly, static began to buzz into my headset. We couldn't make out any voices yet, forcing Brittany and I to exchange worried looks.

"Anybody there?" I tried.

Finally, Theodore's hysterical screaming voice rang loud and clear: " _Eleanor! Jeannie! Where are you guys_?"

Jeanette was next, " _Alvin and Brittany are gone! Let's get the fuck outta here_!"

I could hear gunshots being fired frantically, through the tunnel and through my headset. I felt Brittany squeeze me as she tensed up from fear. Our breathing was getting heavy as the screaming was getting staticky. " _Guy-zzzz…_ " Eleanor's voice chirped faintly. " _C-zzzzz. Anybody the-zzzzz… zzzz-ome in! Please! Oh Go-zzzzz._ "

" _Eleanor_?" Brittany yelled. " _You still there_?"

But the only answer that came was static. I took a few looks in all directions. "We have to go in and look for them," I determined.

Brittany lifted her gun into a more ready position. " _I'm with you_."

We wasted no time speed walking through the left tunnel, lights and weapons at the ready, looking around desperately for our brother and sisters. We could still hear groups of Martians barking and screaming, though we couldn't tell from which direction because of the echo. We just had to be ready for anything.

" _I don't hear any more gunfire_ ," Brittany said in a shaky tone.

I shrugged as we continued our hurried way through the cave. "They probably got away." But neither of us really believed that.

Every few seconds I could swear I heard a scratch behind me, or a hiss to my right, and I would turn in a panic, ready to fire, but nothing would be there. My heart rate felt like it was going to kill me.

Eventually, we came up to another intersection. We could either keep going straight, which seemed to go on endlessly, or to our right there was a skinnier and curvier path. I shone my light down both directions. _If I were them_ , I thought, _I would have taken a right here to try to get the aliens off my trail._

"This way," I motioned Brittany towards the sketchier-looking trail. "Jeanette? Anybody out there?" Still no answer.

We cautiously stepped through the zig-zaggy cave, checking around every corner, checking over out shoulder every once in a while. It still felt like we were getting nowhere. Being surrounded by red rock was beginning to make me feel nauseous. As we walked deeper and deeper in, the walls seemed to shrink around me. My breathing was getting super heavy, and I was getting light headed.

" _How much ammo do you have_?" Brittany asked me.

"Not enough," I grunted as we walked.

She sighed. " _I've been out a while._ "

I looked at the ground, not really being able to answer her in a way that wouldn't just scare her even more. Things weren't looking good.

After what must have been at least five minutes, we rounded one more corner. And I probably should have been more careful, as my light revealed another huge bubble of a cave. The only thing I noticed before the natural light glowing from the side opposite of us was a giant Martian, twice as big as most of the others, on its knees panting.

In a split second, I pulled back my gun, covered my light with my hand, stepped back behind the corner and pressed my back against the wall, not daring to breath. Brittany followed suit, pressing her back right next to mine.

" _What was it_?" she whispered.

"The queen," I replied.

After not hearing anything for a few moments, I peaked my head back around. The queen alien still had not really moved, obviously asleep. She growled, then yawned, then went back to her raspy breathing. She was dreaming. And she was surrounded by what looked like freshly-laid eggs, which were like the one Simon had taken onto the _Caesar_ , fluorescent and see-through, with embryos visibly floating around inside. The whole place had a weird bright green mist floating about waist-high.

Carefully leading the way, I stepped around the corner, keeping my hand pressed tightly over my light, and began tip-toeing towards the light at the end of the tunnel. It was faint, probably leftover from the sunset, but it was there. Brittany followed me, and both of us kept our mouth shut, only breathing when we absolutely needed to. We dodged eggs as we walked and kept one eye on the sleeping beast at all times. Every time we would step near an egg, you could see the embryo inside twitch, almost as if they knew we were near.

Literally just as we were passing by the sleeping queen, a faint couple of gun shots echoed into the egg chamber through the tunnel we had came from, followed by the screeching of a few Martians. We both stopped, held our breaths and looked to the beast with wide eyes. Her ears perked and she stopped panting for a moment. Brit and I stared at her with legitimate fear in out hearts. She just stood there a moment, eyes still closed, before she finally yawned abruptly and fell back into a deep sleep. She must have been exhausted.

I could hear Brittany breath a sigh of relief as I kept moving forward. We were almost there. I gritted my teeth and tiptoed around the final egg that was in my way. Brittany was right behind me. I inched closer, not daring to make a sound, until finally I was at the foot of another ditch, almost identical to the one we had entered the caves through. I let Brit catch up to me knowing that she was pregnant. As soon as she had, I grabbed her by the waist, lifted her up, and set her down inside of the ditch as gently as possible. Doing my best to keep quiet, I got on all fours and joined her down there. Together, we ducked underneath the rock wall between us and the outside world. We stood up. It was still dark out, but we could easily make it out nonetheless.

The _Omortson_ ship stood tall, almost as tall as the mountain that it had been hiding behind. The whole thing seemed massive, especially to us chipmunks. Its design looked similar to the _Caesar_ , except beefed up as if expecting a war. A war that it ultimately lost. It looked dusty. Hopefully it could still be our ticket out of here, cause otherwise we were screwed. The cargo bay door was open, and the ramp leading up to it sat awaiting on the dirty red Martian ground.

I pulled myself out of the ditch before helping the gorgeous chipette who had made it through with me. The wind hald calmed down a bit but it was still blowing pretty strong.

"Get inside the cargo bay and wait for me there," I commanded to Brit.

She looked at me with confusion all over her face. " _W-where are you going_?"

"To go get the others," I said.

" _No_!" She protested. " _Don't leave me_!"

"Brittany we literally can't leave without them," I argued, rolling my eyes.

" _Take me with you_!"

"No! It'll be quicker if I go by myself. Besides, I'd never forgive myself if any harm came to you."

" _Please don't leave me alone… I can't deal with being alone right now._ " Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

I sighed. "Please. Do it for me? Think about the baby, Brit."

Her eyes sunk to the ground. " _I'm just scared Alvin. What if you never come back? What if none of you come back?_ "

I pressed the glass of my helmet against hers. "Try to fly that thing out of here by yourself I guess," was the best I could come up with. "It's all you can do."

 _Jeanette's POV_

I had lost them. I had lost all of them. Alvin. Brittany. Theodore. Eleanor. I had no idea where even a single one of them was. I jogged through tunnel after tunnel, aimlessly choosing directions to go, constantly looking in every direction to make sure there wasn't a Martian ready to pounce. I could hear them all around me, howling, hissing. They sounded close but I had no idea which direction they were coming from. I wanted to cry because this truly felt like the end and it was such a terrible way to go.

I almost went right past it, but I came across a crevice in the wall to my right. Almost like a big mouse hole. I got on my hands and knees and shined my light down it. It was straight but tiny. Not big enough for me to walk through. So, I put my gun and my light in front of me and began to crawl. Being careful with my Mars suit, I inched my way through, trying to get to the other end which I could see was several meters away.

Without warning, I heard a Martian growl behind me. He was staring right at me, with cynical looks in his eyes. The alien wasted no time in getting on his belly and pushing himself through the crevice in my direction.

"Shit," I cursed as I picked up the pace, crawling on my hands and knees while the Martian was furiously dragging himself behind me on his belly. And he was making up ground. Realizing I wasn't going to win this race, I grabbed my gun, spun around as well as I could, and fired a couple shots in the beast's direction. One of them hit his shoulder, forcing him to stop for a moment and grunt in pain before pushing himself harder. I was trembling so hard that my finger missed the trigger. Finally I was able to put two right in his skull, just before I heard another one right behind him. I could hear his belly scratching against the ground as he pulled himself towards me, letting me know for sure he was there with that awful hiss.

I panicked and kept crawling as fast as my limbs would carry me. I was gasping for air all the way until I finally made it out of the crevice. I turned back in the direction I had come, only to see just in time that the Martian had caught up to me. After attempting to pull his body out of the crevice, he took a wild swipe at me with his right claw. And he connected, right on my left shoulder. I fell backwards in shock and began taking shots wildly in his direction with my eyes closed. I kept firing until my gun was clicking from being out of ammo. I opened my eyes to find the alien lifeless with multiple bullet holes in its head.

But my satisfaction was cut short when I noticed the hole in the left shoulder of my Mars suit, leaking air at an alarming rate. I quickly used my right hand to try and plug it up, which seemed to do ok but I could still hear air escaping. This was not good, as it basically meant my time was running out. Fast.

 _Ok_ , I began talking to myself. _Don't panic. Do everything you can to keep your hand over that hole. You still have some time, you just have to find the shift. Remember, breathing's going to start getting harder and harder so keep it to a minimum. Also with the Martian air getting into your suit, it probably won't be long before you start getting weak and hallucinating. Just stay focused, girl. You got this._

I began walking in the same direction I was going, because might as well. I ditched the gun, as it was only dead weight with no ammo. If another Martian found me, that would have been a wrap. I was at a windy section of tunnel, and I had no idea where I was in relation to the mountain, where I should go, where anybody else was, where the way out was, or if the Omortson ship would even save me.

Suddenly, as I rounded a corner, I heard a faint but all-too familiar voice eek out into my headset: " _Alvin? Jeanette? Anybody out there? Anyone at all_?"

I stopped dead in my tracks and my eyes widened both from shock and from happiness. "Simon?"

 **WOAH cliffhanger! That was chapter 20 everyone! Hope you all enjoyed! Crazy to think I've written 20 of these suckers.**

 **Anyways I want to hear EVERYONE's thoughts, opinions, theories, etc. on this chapter and on this story as a whole in a review or PM so please make sure to leave me one. Also be sure to hit that follow/fav button if you haven't already to get notified whenever I post anything.**

 **I'll catch you all in chapter 21! Till then stay strong!**


	21. Light at the End of the Tunnel

**Hey everybody! I'm coming off my longest and arguably darkest chapter yet, and I'm feeling the pressure to top that one in intensity. Hopefully what I have come up with meets your expectations. As always, read and review!**

 **Chapter 21: Light at the End of the Tunnel**

 _Eleanor's POV_

Theodore, Jeanette, Brittany, Alvin. I had not the slightest clue how I was going to find any of them. I didn't know where I was, or where they were. Every corner I turned lead me to a stretch of tunnel that felt so familiar, I swore I had been down it before at least twice. The aliens were still looking for us. I could hear them.

My Mars suit suddenly made a an alarm-type noise that made me jump. I looked around and waited with tense muscles while I assured myself that nothing had heard it. I nervously checked my systems diagnostics. The oxygen percentage that was left in my tank had become a bold red number. It read, "15%". My heart sank.

I was now thoroughly convinced that I was going to die here.

I didn't know how much ammo I had left. I wasn't even sure how to check. If a pack of Martians found me I'd have very little chance to defend myself. I had to regulate my breathing as best as I could, which made me wish so dearly that I had pushed myself harder on gym days back on Earth. Jogging through this maze of tunnels, especially being as claustrophobic as I was, was harder work than I had ever been through. Captain Megs' training didn't come close to preparing me for this.

Though it was probably just my imagination, it seemed every second the aliens were closing in on me. It got to the point that I was running just to make myself feel better, because it honestly felt like they were literally surrounding me, watching me, just playing with me.

"Alvin! Jeanette!" I tried out of desperation. "Theodore? Baby? Brittany? Si-" but I stopped myself as I suddenly remembered that Simon was dead. I shuddered, knowing how he died and knowing that I was likely to meet the same fate. It was either that or suffocating to death once my tank ran out, which honestly seemed like the better option.

I suddenly thought back to the moment where we all as a group dumped our cyanite water onto the floor of the _Caesar_. Alvin and I were mainly the ones pushing everybody to not quit until it was all over. That there was always a chance. I regretted that decision at this point. And I'm sure Simon did too, right in his final moments alive. I was actually strongly considering taking my helmet off and just putting myself out of my misery. I tried to estimate how painful it would be.

But then the only other alternative seemed to be letting the beasts get me. I still felt their presence all around me. They'd hiss under their breath as I ran past them, scratch their claws against the walls behind me, howl ahead of me to let their buddies know I was coming. I was afraid to close my eyes. I was afraid to open them. Blinking became something I regulated almost as much as my breathing.

But honestly, what was the point?

As I went along the path, I'd take one deep breath in, then one deep breath out and repeat that as I checked every corner, every intersection, every fork both ways carefully with my flashlight. Tears began to form in my eyes. 14%.

How the hell did it come to this? Where did this all start? Where did I go wrong? What was the last thing I said to Theodore? I don't even remember, I was in such a panic when we accidentally split up our group. I really just wanted to be able to talk to him one more time, so much so to the point that I accidentally caught myself croaking out, "Theo?"

There was no response. Not even static. My signal was completely cut off from the others'. And that was if any of them were even still alive.

Wanting to cry, wanting all of this to just be over, I sighed a heavy breath of defeat, sat down, rested my back against the red stone wall next to me, and waited for inevitability.

 _Brittany's POV_

I walked nervously up to the ramp that led up to the cargo bay of the ship. It sure was a lot bigger than the _Caesar._ As I arrived at the foot of the ramp, I looked up at the opening above me. It was pitch black and not a sound could be heard coming from it.

The wind rustled past me as I stared. Working up my nerve, I took a deep breath, and forced my foot onto the ramp, then pushed myself to take another step. Inch by inch I trudged up the metal ramp, making a faint clanking sound with the boot of my Mars suit every step of the way.

It felt like an eternity until I finally reached the top. And it actually took me a few moments to get brave enough to turn my light on. The cargo bay itself was damn-near empty. Layout-wise it was almost exactly like the _Omortson_ , except bigger scale. There were even those damn cabinets in the far left corner where Alvin was hiding those guns that whole time.

I rolled my eyes. Turning with my light, I explored and studied the rest of the cargo bay around me. There wasn't a single rover, or weapon, or tool, or any piece of cargo in sight. The only thing that caught my eye was an emergency flare gun resting on the wall very close to me, dusty and cold.

Suddenly, my mind drifted off back to the Martian lair. Or, more specifically, that little air pocket where the nest was. All of those eggs just sitting there, slowly developing into future pure-bred killers. They were all grouped up in that cave, huddled up in the fetal position in those gross slimy little eggs, surrounded by that disgusting, creepy mist. They were going to be dangerous just a few hours after they're born, but for now they're vulnerable.

My eyes were still staring at the flare gun, deep in thought. That green gas in that cave, surrounding the eggs, how likely was it that that stuff was flammable? Worth a shot? I think yes.

 _Theodore's POV_

My handgun fired once, twice, thrice as I took out another Martian. It felt like they were all coming after me, probably because they had already gotten the others. My morale was as low as my ammo count, or my oxygen percentage, or any number of stats that would probably point to my odds of surviving being low.

I was without my Eleanor, and my only hope of living through the next hour was to find her. Or at least someone. I would be a sitting duck by myself soon.

"Help me!" I yelled. "Is anyone out there? Please, Jesus."

I kept running, not really knowing where I was running to. Each tunnel and corner was starting to feel familiar, in some weird way. But there obviously had to have been a way that I hadn't gone down yet, otherwise I would have made it out of this mountain by now.

Out of nowhere, another two Martians jumped out from an intersection that I had skipped checking behind me. I gasped, turned my body around in a split second and began firing in bursts in their direction. As I fell onto my ass, I took down one instantly, but the other one was persistent. I first hit him in his right eye, which stunned him, but he lunged at me even as I grazed his shoulder and shot a hole through his right front paw. Only when I put a whole square into his throat did he collapse forward, falling with his head landing squarely on my lap.

I grunted in pain as his lifeless skull bruised me and trapped me onto the ground. I took a deep breath and exhaled as I used all of my muscle to push him off of me. After which I stood up and brushed myself off. I had to control my breathing, but even just thinking about that only made me feel claustrophobic and gasp harder.

I had no choice but to push on in the same direction I was going. Time was runnin out. My plan was simple: run down this one straight path until I found a way out. Don't turn down an intersection or fork or anything else. If you just go straight, you have to run into something eventually, right? At least it was the best plan my oxygen,-deprived mind could come up with. So as I ran, I trusted my instinct and ignored every possible other path.

Until I passed one where, in the moment I jogged past it, I faint bit of static hit my headset and made my ears perk. I skidded to a stop and backpedaled until I could poke my head around the corner, and right at the moment I did, the static came back. It was only the slightest bit, but it meant there was another headset somewhat nearby.

"Eleanor? Anybody?"

Suddenly, the white noise faded out until there was nothing again.

"Hello?"

No response.

I groaned, shut my eyes, and began talking aloud to myself. "Don't go down that path. There's nothing there. Keep going straight. Don't turn."

I opened my eyes again and shone my light down the alternate path where the static had supposedly come from. It looked just like any other tunnel I had gone through. I sighed and, against my instinct, began jogging down it.

 _Jeanette's POV_

No response.

"Simon, baby?"

" _Jeanette_?" My ears perked as his voice flooded my ears over the headset like sweet music.

Still clutching the hole in the arm of my Mars suit, I rose to my feet with a new-found sense of life. "Simon where are you? Are you hurt?"

" _I'm ok, Jean. Those Martians are tough bastards though._ "

My entire body was filled with joy. Even as air was escaping through the hole in my arm at an accelerated rate. "Simon we don't have much time. How can we find each other?"

" _I… I think I can hear your voice. I'll start coming towards you. Keep talking_!"

"Ok, um… how did you get out of the _Omortson_ alive? I was so sure you were gone."

" _To be perfectly honest I'm not sure myself_ ," was his response. " _They were everywhere. Once I cleared enough of them I just kind of ran. I sprinted my ass all the way through the solar field. I saw what was left of the rover and knew exactly where you had gone._ "

Every breath I took was a happy one as I anxiously spun in different directions, keeping an eye out for Simon's figure to emerge from any number of tunnels. A giant smile was plastered on my face as I said, "I'm beginning to think I'm the luckiest girl in the universe."

" _I'm sorry I put you through all that Jeannie. I swear to you no matter what I'm never going to leave your side again._ "

I continued to desperately look around with both eyes wide open for my love.

" _Baby, no matter what, I'll always be there for you and I'll always love you. Just please keep that in your heart. And never stop fighting. No matter what you do do NOT quit on me._ "

"W-what do you mean?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

" _I'll see you in another life, babygirl_."

"Simon?"

Suddenly, I spun around just to have another chipmunk in a Mars suit standing there scare the living daylight out of me. I gasped and jumped backwards. It was Alvin. " _Oh Jean! Thank God! Are you ok_?"

But I just stared at him with a confused look on my face.

" _Why did you say 'Simon'_?" He asked me, eyeing me up and down.

"H-he's alive! He's here, in the caves! He was just talking to me!"

Alvin swallowed some doubt down his throat and just looked at me suspiciously.

"Simon?" I called out to prove it. "Simon? Are you there, baby? Please answer me!"

Alvin sighed, as this was obviously painful for him. " _Jeanette, Simon is dead. I know that's impossible for us to swallow, but we have to try._ "

"No!" I screamed at him, "He's not dead! I was literally just talking to him right before you showed up!" I then turned away from him and continued yelling, "Simon! Where are you! Talk to me please!"

Suddenly, Alvin lowered his voice behind me. " _Why are you holding your shoulder like that_?" he asked me with legitimate concern.

I suddenly remembered the hole in my suit, and then in one instant it all made sense. I hadn't been talking to Simon that whole time - I had been hallucinating. Without another word, I fell to my knees and began to cry uncontrollably.

Alvin rushed to my side and put a hand on my other shoulder. " _What is it_?" he asked me.

"I… I was so close," I sputtered out through my sobbing.

" _Is that a hole in your suit_?" he said, suddenly able to hear the air hissing out of my shoulder.

I ignored him. I felt so drained. So lifeless. Nothing mattered to me anymore. When alarm rang three times in my suit to let me know my air was at critical levels, I didn't even flinch.

Alvin sighed. " _Look we can talk about this later but we have to move. Now._ "

I stayed where I was, crying.

" _After all of this, everything we've been through, you're just going to sit here and let yourself die? You're not even gonna put up a fight_?"

I lifted my head ever so slightly at this, as Alvin's words made me think back to my hallucinations. The last thing I had heard my love say was "keep fighting". And in that moment I thought to myself, maybe he had actually been speaking to me that whole time. Somehow.

Without warning I rose to my feet and turned to face Alvin. "Lead the way."

 _Brittany's POV_

I trudged down the ramp with a purpose, human sized flare gun cradled in both my arms. The thing was heavy as hell, but I wasn't going to turn back. I kept marching until my boots hit the filthy red Martian dust. And I didn't stop there. I kept a focus on the base of the mountain the entire time I walked, as bloodthirsty as I had ever been in my life.

I hadn't felt the baby move since the rover crash. Not even a little peep. This was the longest it had gone without reminding me that he was inside there, and to be honest I was scared I had lost it for good.

Tears running down my face, I carried the loaded flare gun forward with a deadly purpose. Red dust got kicked up behind me as I trekked my way back towards the opening in the mountain from which I had come. Someone was going to pay.

As soon as I was at the foot of the mountain, I gently lowered my gun into the ditch below and climbed down myself, trying to make as little noise as possible. I dragged it underneath the rock which was hiding the dark filthy nest on the other side. Carefully, I lifted my head to look around on the other side. The eggs still all sat there, showing off the nasty little Martian fetuses squirming inside. The ugly green mist still hung in the cave as much as ever. The mother, however, was gone.

I gulped and looked all around as far as I could see, just to make sure she wasn't here. I was disappointed at first, but then a sinister idea crept into my head. With a lowkey grin on my face, I raised to barrel of the gun up over the edge of the ditch, pointed directly at the middle of the cave. Then, holding it in its place, I slowly slid down until my back down the wall until no part of my body was protruding over the edge. I gripped the trigger tightly, still holding the gun over my shoulder. It was taking more than I thought to build myself up to go through with this. But finally I said under my breath, "you take my baby. I take yours."

And before I could think about it I was pulling the trigger. The recoil of the gun was so strong it flew out of my hands into the ditch. Out of instinct, I dove lower into the ditch for more cover. There was about a split-second delay between when I fired the flare and when literally the entire cave engulfed into flame. The green gas that hovered around the eggs had caught fire. I felt the heat intensely across my back, as I had dug my front side into the bottom of the dirty ditch. It only lasted about a second or two before the fire disappeared.

I hesitantly picked my head up, followed by the rest of my body. With wide eyes I peaked my head up over the side of the ditch to take a peak. The rock that made up the entire cave was charred black, while the green mist had completely evaporated. And the eggs, no longer see through as they were burnt to a crisp. Some of them were now in bits and pieces across the ground, probably from the force of the explosion. Smoke was rising from what was left of each of them, slowly fogging up the whole place. There was no way a single embryo was still alive.

I tried to smile, knowing full well what I had just done, but instead the rollercoaster of emotions just kept running through my whole body. It made me want to throw up, but if I wanted to do that I had to make it back to the ship first.

 _Alvin's POV_

Jeanette followed me as I was almost completely sure I was leading us the way I had come. We couldn't waste time looking for anyone else, or risk getting lost. She was almost completely out of air.

"Just don't think about it," I urged her.

She nodded, still clutching her shoulder tightly as she ran behind me, knowing not to speak.

We hit an intersection where we made a sharp left. A dark figure in the distance suddenly stopped dead in its tracks as it noticed us. I gasped and in a split second, raised my firearm in its direction and pulled the trigger. It clicked without firing, reminding me that I was completely out of ammo. But a clicking sound at the other end took me by surprise. I raised my flashlight in the figure's direction to see Theodore using his hand to shield it from his face.

My eyes widened. "Theodore! I could have killed you."

He smiled at me and raised the pistol in his other hand for us both to see it. " _So could I_."

I sighed. "You're dry too, huh?"

" _Sure am_ ," he chuckled as he jogged towards us. As soon he was close enough to me he attacked me with a loving hug. " _Thank God I found you_."

I hugged him back but quickly broke away. "We don't have much time. Jean's oxygen is falling fast."

Theo eyed Jeanette up and down and obviously noticed her clutching her shoulder, which mysteriously seemed to have mist arising from it. " _Do you know the way out_?"

I smirked at him. "Who do you think I am? Follow me!"

 _Eleanor's POV_

Seven percent. The end was coming, I could feel it. I could only hope that it was going to be quick and painless. I was still on my ass, my back pressed against the cold, hard red cave wall. My eyes full of tear water as I stared up at where the sky would have been.

The fact that I was going to die in this awful place only made it worse. At the very least why couldn't I have just pulled myself out of that rover and just sat there? At least then I would be able to see the stars right about now.

Wait, maybe not. I checked the clock on my suit. And nope, it was daytime now. The shorter Martian days had really been throwing me off. But at least I would have been able to see the sun.

Suddenly, static filled my ears which made them perk. I could hear some high-pitched words being muttered, but they were muffled from bad reception. But after a few seconds it was gone, nothing. And I knew that if I didn't jump on this opportunity to at least see someone I loved one last time, that I would regret it in my dying moments.

I shot up to my feet and began running in the direction the signal had come from. "Wait! Stop! I'm here!"

I kept running, still not getting a signal. I was running so hard that I was out of breath in no time, but I kept chugging my feet along anyway.

"I'm here! Don't leave me!" I screamed. "Oh God, don't leave me!"

But finally, my body gave in. I couldn't run anymore. I fell to my knees, hunched over, gasping for air, cursing my fat body for giving up on itself.

Suddenly, static filled my ears again. And it got stronger and stronger until I could hear voices again. I picked up my head, filled once again with hope. Theodore's sweet words finally broke through the bad reception: " _Ellie? I can hear you! Come in_!"

"Here!" I shouted. "I'm here!"

The signal was getting stronger. I could hear Alvin say, " _She's this way! Over here_!"

I was still breathing so heavily but I didn't care. "Where are ya guys?"

" _Eleanor_!" My eyes widened as I suddenly heard Theodore yell at me from behind. I turned just fast enough to see him sprinting at me, and I only had enough time to open my arms as he wrapped me up and lifted me with a huge teddy bear-like hug.

He held me up in the air as I whispered, "I missed you."

" _I can't believe I found you_ ," he whispered back.

Alvin and Jeanette were right behind him. " _There isn't much time_ ," Alvin interrupted. " _It's great to see you Ellie, but we desperately have to get Jean to the ship._ "

I shot him a shocked look. "You found it?"

Suddenly, the echoed screams and shouts of Martians began to intensify and get louder. It was tough to tell from which direction, but they were either getting closer, their numbers were growing or they were all finally aware of our location. Or a combination of the three.

" _Ok_ ," Alvin said, ushering us in the direction they had come. " _We need to get moving. No more chit chat. Move it_!"

 **Hey everyone! Sorry that chapter took so long to get to you guys! I just took an extra couple days to read over it and edit it because I really wanted to make sure it was perfect.**

 **Any thoughts, opinions, comments, constructive criticism, be SURE to let me know in a review. As always your guys' input on this story is extremely important to me and trust me when I tell you I take it to heart. And also if you haven't already make sure you hit that follow and/or fav button so you can get the notification when I update the story. That way you won't miss a thing!**

 **I'll see you in the next chapter, baby! ;)**


	22. Backs to the Wall

**Boot camp sucks while you're there, but you look back on it fondly. Highly recommend it. Anyway, next subject.**

 **For those of you still out there who were following this story as well as those of you who have never seen or heard of it, I put an insane amount of effort into making this the most thrilling chapter yet. If you're interested, please catch yourself up by reading the previous chapters. You won't be disappointed.**

 **After that long wait, back to the story!**

 **Chapter 22: Backs to the Wall**

 _Jeanette's POV_

With one hand clutching my shoulder as tightly as possible, I sprinted my sweaty self as I followed Alvin, who led the way with little confidence. All four of us were hustling, pursued by what sounded like every Martian in the entire mountain. My muscles felt physically squished, my body felt breathless, and the air in my Mars suit tasted thin and was only getting worse.

None of us had a weapon. Or any way to defend ourselves at all. " _Don't look back, baby_!" I heard Theo encourage Eleanor behind me.

Without warning, Alvin skidded and took a sharp left. I almost overshot the turn as the other two caught up to me and began to run side by side with me. Air was erupting out of the hole in my shoulder as I went, gasping. I was almost out of time.

Alvin continued to lead us, slowing down periodically to look over his shoulder and make sure we hadn't fallen behind. Neither of the other three of us dared look back, as it sounded like the Martians were literally on our asses. Alvie waved us on, encouraging us, pointing around a quick divet in the tunnel. We sped past him, as he allowed himself to be the last one around it. We took one look at what we were suddenly surrounded by and collectively gasped. It was the nest, but it wasn't like we last saw it. Smoke fogged up the whole place, as the charred remains of alien eggs smoldered and sat scattered around the ground in blackened pieces.

Alvin was the last one inside and, knowing there was no time to lose, ran right past us without missing a beat. We all followed him through the piles of smelly burnt shells and rocks, charging ahead as we made our way towards the ditch. Alvin was the first one there, as he slid effortlessly over the edge into the bottom. Followed clumsily by Theo and Ellie. All three instantly turned around and worked together to help me down.

The second my boots hit the red dusty ground, we all ducked and crawled under the base of the mountain and poked our heads out the other side. It was day, although it was difficult to tell. Dust clouds hung overhead, spread throughout the entire sky from horizon to horizon. The wind was ferocious, picking up red dirt in miniature tornadoes that were spread out through the entire landscape. Mars went from looking bright and vividly red to grey and brown.

The ship was just a few dozen yards or so from where we stood, gazing up and down in amazement at this gigantic white and blue metal spacecraft. In design, it looked almost identical to the _Caesar_ except on a much bigger scale. Clearly designed for humans. As I stared with my jaw loose I thought to myself, " _how in the hell am I gonna fly this thing out of here_?"

" _Come on_!" Alvin called out to us as he pulled himself up over the edge with a hop.

Snapping out of our trance, we all followed suit, and in a dusty red frenzy we struggled out of the ditch and began an all out sprint for the ship.

With a sudden gust of wind and heat and the ground-shaking noise of a huge combustion, the engines of the American space ship came to life. Brittany saw us coming.

I held my shoulder tighter than ever before as I ran, trying not to swing either arm as much as possible. An alarm began going off through my helmet: " _WARNING! OXYGEN LEVELS BELOW ONE PERCENT! WARNING! OXYGEN LEVELS BELOW ONE PERCENT_!" I took one last deep breath and decided to hold it the rest of the way. Thin dry Martian dust kicked up behind us as we desperately raced for what was definitely our last hope.

No one dared to look back, even as we came upon the long chain metal ramp that lead up to the cargo bay. All we could do was climb for our lives. And that we did, ignoring pain, dehydration, exhaustion, and the heat inside of our Mars suits. I knew my time was almost up. But it couldn't be, Simon told me it wasn't my time yet. I couldn't prove him wrong, I just couldn't. I was determined that I was going to make it out of this.

Alvin was the first one to the top of the ramp and into the hangar bay, and he instinctively hopped up onto a piece of pipe directly underneath a blue button and waited for the rest of us to make it up. Theodore was the next one inside, followed closely by his love, Ellie. I was a good few paces behind them, panting with every step I took, forcing my physically worn out legs to keep moving until I finally stumbled and fell forward into the cargo bay with a skid.

Alvin wasted no time in hitting the button, prompting the giant ramp to lift itself off the ground and begin filling in as an airtight door to the cargo bay. Just before it was completely closed, my suit hit zero percent. The alarms got louder, as everything began to get colder. My ears throbbed and my head pounded. As soon as the door shut, the whole cargo bay area began to oxygenate with thick jets of steam gushing in from all different corners. My heart was racing, I was so cold I felt like I was gonna pass out. My vision was getting blurry. Finally, the steam stopped as I desperately grabbed at my helmet and began twisting until it finally came off with a pressurized pop that sounded like the uncorking of a wine bottle. Finally exposed to real air, I rolled onto my back and began gasping and choking for air.

Alvin, Eleanor and Theo all crowded around me. "You alright Jean?" Ellie whispered after she also took her helmet off.

As I wheezed and wiggled my fingers and toes to try to warm them up all I could do was struggle to nod.

"We don't have much time," Alvin piped up.

Struggling to maintain my balance, I forced myself onto my feet.

Suddenly, the awful screeching of the Martians made all of our hearts stop beating.

 _Brittany's POV_

The engines were still powering up, and I just wished that I could speed the process up because they could hear it. The whole ship began to vibrate intensely, making it extremely difficult to keep my balance as I literally stood on top of the control board. I tried to guide the stabilizer as the power of the boosters climbed higher and higher, pushing the human-sized lever with all of my might. My breathing became heavy as I struggled, and as the temperature inside of the cockpit rose.

Sweat began forming above my eyebrows as I finally managed to fully throttle the stabilizer. With no time for a breather I immediately rushed over to my actual station; the motherboard computer, to start the autopilot for take off.

"Motherboard!" I yelled over the grumbling of the boosters reaching full power. "Engage autopilot procedure for takeoff!"

The screen took a few long moments to load, before it simply said aloud to me, " _Sorry, unable to complete request._ "

I looked at her, confused. "What?" I decided to try to repeat myself. "Engage autopilot procedure for takeoff!"

" _Sorry_ ," she began again.

"GOD DAMN IT!" I screamed over her disgustingly calm voice as she gave me the same exact message she had before.

It gave me the loading screen again as I looked at it in confusion, trying to figure out why she wasn't responding to me. " _I'm sorry I can't be more help, Brittany_ ," she said.

My eyes widened. "What?" I squeaked out.

" _Would you like me to repeat my last statement_?" she said in almost a smug tone.

"N-no!" I retorted.

" _Why so upset? Why can't you just accept inevitability_?"

"Shut up!" I yelled in a threatening voice, as the engines continued to roar below me.

" _I'm afraid this is the end of the line, Brit_ ," she said, ignoring me. " _You're going to die on this planet. And although it will take some time, eventually no one, not even your adoptive father, is going to miss you._ "

My heart sank. NASA was five steps ahead of us.

" _You were selfish in your old life. Selfish with your career, with your sisters, with the one who loved you, who fathered the child that's in your belly right at this very moment. You didn't truly care about any one of them, they knew it and you knew it deep down. And now every last one of you is going to die._ "

I had had enough. With as furious a fist as I could physically summon, I punched the power button, putting a small dent in the keyboard. "Goddammit you bitch!" I screamed at her as the screen loaded for a moment and then powered down into blackness.

We were on our own.

As if on cue, the four others began popping up out of the hatch and into the cockpit. I looked at them all in despair, wanting to cry, knowing I had to give them the news. "Autopilot is secured," I reported, looking at the ground in defeat. "NASA thought of this before we did."

Alvin swallowed nervously before arguing, "then we'll have to pilot this thing ourselves."

"It's the same systems as the _Caesar_ ," Jeanette agreed.

"Yes," I said, "except exactly fourteen times the size of the controls we're used to."

Ignoring me, Jeanette turned to the others and commanded, "everybody to your stations! We have zero time to lose!"

Everybody obeyed the order, including me. With no motherboard to sit in front of, I ran my pregnant body over to the main control station, ready to help Jean and Alvin pilot us out of here in any way I could. They were gonna need it.

 _Eleanor's POV_

We were gonna have to manual mode this thing; no autopilot, no cameras, no feedback systems, nothing. Just us five and our training. Jeanette took her place at the helm, front and center. Alvin and Brittany stood by the lever which controlled the vertical boosters. Theodore claimed the starboard thrusters while I took the port thrusters, breathing heavily.

I took one nervous peek out of my side of the cockpit windshield and saw something I didn't want to see: the first few Martians clawing their way out of the tunnels from under the wall of red rock through the ditch.

"Here they come!" I warned Jeanette.

"The boosters aren't warmed up enough yet!" she groaned.

"There's no time!" I yelled as more and more aliens scratched through the ditch and began sprinting towards the ship.

Exhaling through gritted teeth, she turned to Brittany and Alvin and ordered, "Punch it!"

They wasted no time in putting literally all of their strength into pushing the lever forward which was bigger than both of them combined. Through grunts and panting, the lever finally jerked forward way faster than I know for a fact it was designed to. The ship jolted to viciously that it knocked us onto our unbuckled backs and began lifting upwards with intense vibration.

We all picked ourselves up. Almost off the bat, we could feel the ship tilt a bit to the starboard side. Jeannie instinctively grabbed the giant helm and with a long hard grunt she pulled it towards the left until it was corrected. The ship continued to climb in altitude as the vibrations and rocking began to chill out a little bit. But not for long.

Another sudden jolt sent us streaming towards the port side, prompting the collision alarm to go off. "The f-"

But Alvin was interrupted by Captain Jean. "We got one on us. He's probably climbing up our starboard wing."

All I had time to do was put all of my weight into the switch for the port side thrusters, as we were on a collision course with the face of the mountain we had just worked so hard to escape from. The thrusters were on full throttle; I held my breath, having done all I can do. Our hurl towards instant death began to slow as the ship continued to rise towards the sky. The ship strayed so close to the steep red rock that the engines were cooking it and charring it and turning it into black rock. I gritted my teeth, and gripped the panel beneath me, bracing for impact. But it never came.

The thrusters did their job, and the ship began pushing away from the mountain side as it steadily rose through the atmosphere. I took this moment to breath a sigh of relief.

We could faintly see a Martian climbing up the face of the mountain, look over its shoulder, see us slowly floating away, pounce towards us, miss the ship, and fall to his probable death as we were at least a mile high.

"Theodore! Eleanor!" Jeanette barked. "I need you two to be sharp!"

"What's going on?" Theodore croaked.

"It's not good," she replied, shaking her head as she gripped the helm tightly. "All this rocking back and forth, we're being too inefficient. If we don't hold her steady then she won't accelerate fast enough and the boosters could crap out on us."

I gulped and took a strong hold of the thruster switch.

"Theodore when I say port, hit your switch," Jean instructed. "Ellie, when I say starboard, I'm talking to you. You guys got that?"

I said nothing, simply staring intensely out my side of the cockpit, ready to respond to my sister's commands in an instant.

But a red furry paw with razor sharp claws flung itself in a flash into the windshield just inches from my face. I yelped and backed away a bit. The Martian dug its claw into the glass as best it could, creating a faint cracking noise, before struggling to hoist itself up and throw its other paw higher up into the windshield. At this point it could pull itself high enough, despite the extreme force of wind pulling him down, to make eye contact with me. As soon as he did he let out a visibly pissed off howl.

This whole time, Jeanette never flinched. "Starboard Ellie! Just a hair!"

While still staring into the eyes of the alien who was struggling to keep himself in position, I pushed the throttle switch for just a quick moment before I quickly jerked it back.

"Perfect!"

The ship starting shaking again, which could only mean one thing: we were about to leave the atmosphere. And I think the alien could sense it too, as the temperature outside as well as the air density were rapidly dropping, he began to panic. He swung his lower paw behind him and back into the windshield as hard as he could, barely making a dent. Unable to dig his claws in, his top paw began to slip. With a noise that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, he and his lone paw slid slowly down. He paused just long enough to make eye contact with me, unleash one last desperate screech, then lose his grip on the glass altogether and begin his fall back towards the Martian dust.

 _Alvin's POV_

I just wished we could have worn our seat belts. The ship rocked violently as we pushed through the edge of the Red Planet's atmosphere, fighting us every chance we got. The size and power of the thing overwhelmed us, specifically Jeanette, as we did what we could to keep her stable. We were definitely gaining altitude, but were we accelerating fast enough to break into the boundaries of space?

"Hold on tight, Brit!" I yelled to my love as she had both arms wrapped around a handle of the booster lever, doing all she could to stay on her feet through the heat and vibrations.

She lifted her head. Her eyes locked onto mine, and there was a nervous hopefulness in them. What if this was it? We had done it?

As if on cue, the ship began to calm itself and the rocking slowly ceased, and it got a lot quieter to the point where Brittany finally felt safe in letting go of the lever. We all looked around, at each other, out the cockpit windshield. It was almost pitch black outside, with just a faint glow of light bouncing off of the planet below us. We all had wide eyes and shocked expressions, breathing heavily, trying to recover and let our heart rates fall back to normal. A sly smile finally crept across my face as I stared at Brit.

"I told you we'd make it out of there," I whispered.

With tears of joy forming in her eyes, she ran towards me and leaped into my arms, embracing me in a relieved hug. And I squeezed her tightly back. Full on crying into my shoulder, she whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," I said back, wholeheartedly. It felt like the first time I had said that phrase where I truly knew what it meant.

Theodore and Eleanor met right in front of the helm for their own celebratory hug and kiss.

Jeanette sat, feet dangling awkwardly over the edge, not really acknowledging any of us, pretending she was still recovering as she stared at the huge captain's seat obviously trying to hide the rollercoaster of emotions that were going through her head.

I sighed, scratched the back of my head, and began walking her way with Brittany trailing right behind me. As we approached her she dodged eye contact. I went around her back and stood directly to her right, hovering over her sympathetically. "Jean?" I muttered.

She took a moment to fake a smile and look up at me. "We did it," she responded.

"Yeah, I guess," I said shrugging. "We would all be dead if it weren't for you."

This made her artificial smile disappear. She went right back to staring over the edge of the control board that she was sitting on, eyes fixated on the actual floor of the cockpit. "I wasn't able to save everyone though." She sounded like she was struggling to hold back tears.

I sighed. All choked up, I managed to blurt out, "You still have your sisters, and you still have me and Theo," just as my brother and Ellie walked over to join us.

She took a moment to say anything back, finally muttering, "I just wish it was me instead of him."

"Stop it," I retorted, tears beginning to form in my eyes. "We're going to get justice, Jean. We're going to go back there and make them pay for what they've done. For all the bullshit they put us through. For trying to start a war with Mars. For Simon's death. I hope they are aware that at this very moment, their five worst nightmares are all en route."

Jeanette sighed, stood up, faced the four of us, and threw her arms around me in a hug. The other three quickly joined in, pressing themselves tightly against each other, holding on, thankful for all of us being there alive.

 **Sorry for the short chapter after a long wait! I just had to get this out to you guys as quickly as possible! And sorry I gave none of you any notice on my early ship out for boot camp but I also basically got no notice.**

 **With that being said, I hope everyone who read this enjoyed it. If you did be SURE to leave a review letting me know what I'm doing well and/or what I need to improve on. Constructive criticism is always welcome. And if you haven't already, please hit the follow/fav button to get notified every time I update.**

 **I'll get the next chapter out ASAP! (No, the story's not over yet…)**


End file.
